What is more valuable than freedom?
Freedom is not without restriction.
Most western societies put Freedom as priority#1. Restriction, being perceived as restriction of freedom, becomes a bad thing. Freedom become to be defined as without restrictions. But such saying are actually propaganda devoid of truth. As an illustration, why should a fish live only in water? What a restriction! Fish should be allowed to live any where they like. They should live on land and even on air. So some wise guy liberated the fish from its water and put it on land. The very of liberation for the fish ends in killing the fish. What applies to the fish, applies to us, as a living species. Try defying the law of gravity and taking a jump from a top building will ends in instant death. Yet, but understanding the dynamics of flow, we can construction planes that defy gravity without endangering our lives.
Freedom is better defined as Power to continue to act willingly
It may be better to defined Freedom as the Power to act and to continue to act without being forced to. So we are free to jump from tall buildings. But such an act result in the consequence of death. There is a bigger force at work than our freedom. If we follow the law of gravity, we can continue to live long and be able to act. Such a law that governs our living could be generally known as the truth. Acts of freedom that defy the truth ends in death and destruction. So we can say that: Truth is more Powerful than Freedom
Knowing the Truth is the Source of Freedom
Jesus told us in John 8:32 ...you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." It is not just the truth, but our knowing of the truth that set us free. Many people are enslaved by their beliefs, or more accurately, by their wrong beliefs. If we believe we are losers, we will not make any effort to learn and to try resulting in the fulfilling and strengthening of our belief. But knowing the truth that failure happens to everyone and we can learn and grow like others break us free to try and succeed. The laws of success are given to us. James in
Jas 2:12 calls the commandments as the Laws of Liberty - following them preserves our freedom.
Restriction Now Gives Us Greater Freedom Later
Consider a pianist who practices long hours everyday. He gives up a lot of freedom to do other things. But as he masters the skill he gets better and better in doing and expressing what his heart feels through the music. We learn and work so that we are able to do more things. So we can summarize as follows:
By Practicing the Truth, we get the ability and the power to greater freedom.
We have the formula: Freedom = Knowing and Walking in the Truth
Freedom is a function of truth. Truth is more important than freedom. Knowing and Walking in the truth gives you sustainable and growth in freedom!
We Give up Freedom for Love!
Yet, there is a surprising thing with human being. Human beings enter into a marriage relationship. It means the giving up of one's freedom in exchange of
a love relationship. We value the companionship and sharing more important than our freedom to do our own things. In surrendering our freedom, we gain love and start another journey of life together. Then we restrict ourselves even further to have children. But if you change the definition of freedom from less-restriction to power to do more, then we can see the logic of getting marry and having a family. It enables us to experience more and do more.
The ultimate love is shown by Jesus Christ who gave up himself to redeem us so that we can have relationship with Him. An exchange that frees us from bondage to sin and empower to live the new life to the full - not following a set of death laws but intimate relationship with a loving Personality.
Conclusions:
- Freedom is not about less restriction but about power to do more.
- Truth gives the power to be free. Knowing and Walking in the Truth empowers us to have greater freedom.
- Love is even more valuable, satisfying and empowering than Freedom.
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