Freedom

 There are certain things in life we take for granted, fail to appreciate, squander, and abuse. For those who do not have them, the things we take for granted remain a perpetual goal, an unquenchable desire, and a quest for which they would sacrifice everything. From something as basic as clean drinking water or a roof over one’s head to the ability to walk without pain, see a sunrise, or have the ability to feed your children three square meals a day, there is so much we fail to appreciate because we’ve never been without.

For those of us living in the West, freedom is one of those things. We’ve always had it, never been without it, so it’s hard to process why someone would risk their life for just a taste of it. I have cousins who swam the Danube in the dead of night, with gunboats patrolling the waterway so that they could escape Communism. They were not guaranteed safe passage, if they were spotted, they would have been shot on sight, and their bodies left to rot in the muddy river, but they took the chance because they could no longer live under bondage.

For the most part, the people were complacent. It’s the only way a tyrannical system can work. You beat the people down so much that they will do what you tell them when you tell them, and if anyone steps out of line, you deal with it publicly, violently, and mercilessly. You make frequent examples, create fear and make it an ever-present reality, and eliminate any semblance of hope. This is all you will ever have, this is as good as it’s going to get, but say anything contrary to the approved narrative, and you will see that it can get much worse.

Once in a while, as people become desensitized to the stick, you throw them a little carrot, like an extra food ration card, or one orange per family member on Christmas, to remind them of your magnanimity and that you’re hurting them for their own good. Sacrifices must be made, and you’re the one asked to make them, but here’s an orange for you. Don’t eat it all in one sitting, and make sure you save the peel. You can make tea with that.

Just as some bemoaned and lamented having been delivered from the bondage of Egypt, some lamented the fall of Communism. Even though they were living under the thumb of tyranny, even though everything was bleak and hopeless, freedom was uncharted territory, and it terrified them.

When you’re told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it all your life, it’s hard to come to terms with the reality that you can now choose your path in life. It’s like those battered women who keep going back to the men that made minced meat out of their faces so many times that they’ve come to associate physical violence with a show of affection. He beats me because he loves me, not because he’s an insecure masochist.

The thing about freedom is that you have to want it, pursue it, and when the opportunity presents itself, avail yourself of it. Some moments in life determine your future more profoundly than a decade’s worth of time. When God opens the prison door, we must have the wherewithal to walk out.

When you hear the key in the lock and the creaky door swinging open, your singular desire must be to exit the dungeon quickly and without hesitation. Because some people don’t see their sin as a prison, they fail to appreciate the enormity of freedom. Others love their sin more than the thought of freedom, and even if God were to open the door, they’d remain where they are, hoping someone would shut it anew.

In the moment, while pursuing those things which lead to ruination, no one sees themselves as the miserable wretch they are. There’s always some sort of explanation, excuse, or obfuscation that gets them through the day and keeps them from looking in the mirror and objectively assessing their situation.

Sin will even go so far as to insist that those it has in bondage aren’t slaves but masters of their destinies. “You are free,” sin whispers, “you are free, but free to do only what I command, desire what I command, and pursue what I command.”

A gilded cage is still a cage. If your mind has not been renewed, and you still see sin as inoffensive and harmless, you are a prisoner, no freer to do as you will as the man shackled to a wall in a dungeon. You may think you are, assure others you are, until you try to walk away from your sin, and the chains around your neck pull taut. Christ breaks the chains and opens the prison doors. It’s not an illusion; it’s the real thing, and when He sets men free, they are free indeed.

The only problem is that sometimes dogs return to their vomit, sows return to wallow in the mire, and men return to the prison they were set free from. The prison and the shackles are always there. They have not magically disappeared; you’ve just been set free from them and have the ability never to return. That some would choose to return to slavery is something I can’t understand, but I know it happens more often than we would like.

Freedom is yours if you would have it. Not only can you be free, but you can also remain free if only you do not allow the passing of time to cloud your memories of the reality of what sin did to your life. The devil’s good at that, too, making you remember something in a far better light than you have any right to. Then again, he’s been at this for a very long time.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.