Freedom

I am sure that there are times in everyone’s life when they feel as though they are bound and shackled, maybe to an addiction – or maybe to hobbies and habits.

I’m sure you are less likely to think that you are bound and shackled to your own personality… but sometimes we are.

I’m not quite sure why being an independent person is considered a good thing. In fact, I’m sure in most cases it isn’t. Independent people can live and thrive in the illusion that they are in control of everything around them but they are truly dying on the inside. It happened to Eve and Adam.

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. “Really?” he asked the woman. “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?”

“Of course we may eat it,” the woman told him.

“It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”

“You won’t die!” the serpent hissed.

“God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”

The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too.

At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.

Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees.

The LORD God called to Adam,”Where are you?”

He replied, “I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

Satan knew that the thought of being as smart as God and being able to live without being dependent upon Him would be appealing to an intellectual who could reason. We have a strong desire to be self-sustaining. We want to be able to fully provide all physical, emotional, and spiritual needs for ourselves and others.

Is this what God intended?

A desire to be independent caused the fall of man.

True freedom can be found in dependence upon a savior who gave up His life so that I would not have to live in bondage to my own capabilities. Dependence upon my God; the fact that He can sustain me; and the knowledge that only His word can transform me.

I have learned to become less dependent on myself and more dependent upon Him. That kind of freedom will make me better because it will make me more like Him.

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Tagged as: Spiritual Growth