Imagine complete freedom.

What does that look like? No restrictions?  Complete free will?  Limited government?  Nobody to tell you what to do?

Maybe it’s better defined with a question… who has more freedom:

A “trust-fund baby” that answers to no one and has plenty of money to fuel his passion for liquor and women and cocaine…

or

A young man who is in a mentorship program with strict accountability, requiring him to wake up at 5:30 every morning to spend time in prayer and meditation, followed by an hour-long workout?

Who has more freedom?  The trust-fund guy or the disciplined guy?

Freedom to endless cocaine isn’t freedom. It’s bondage.

A disciplined life isn’t bondage.  It’s freedom.

I’ve heard stories of people feeling freedom for the first time after confessing and going to jail after years of hiding some evil they had done.

Now I’m a little confused… is freedom a myth?

Romans 8:1-2 says this:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

A few verses later in Romans 8 says “not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

According to that, freedom is to be free from sin and “death”.  True freedom is saying no to everything that has a weight of sin attached to it.

The old adage “Freedom isn’t free” rings true here.  Flesh-based, boundless freedom always ends in bondage.  Always.

True freedom starts with putting our “flesh” and it’s wants into bondage.

Ephesians 4:22-23 says:

“Regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude],” AMPLIFIED

Freedom starts with bondage… the binding of the nature inside all of us that wants things that aren’t good for us.

Like nearly everything in life, the easiest path isn’t the best path.

Wait a minute… is easy also a myth?