Reminders: Freedom vs. Security

Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  That quote often comes up in the context of new technology and concerns about government surveillance.  But it fits many other situations as well. 

We Americans particularly value personal freedom.  We seem to think that freedom from restrictions would be the ideal way to live.  We want to do what we want to, when we want to do it!  Many people seem to think that it is a top goal in the pursuit of happiness.  When we think a little more deeply, we realize that if everybody did whatever they wanted to, there would be no one doing the things we need to have done.  We would all be seeking our own version of pleasure, but there would be no one building homes, cars, boats, restaurants or other places we seek pleasure and amusement.  There would be no one serving our favorite food and drinks, and no one to protect us. 

There are good reasons we say that “Freedom isn’t free!”  Everyone has a purpose in life, and God has a plan for each of us.  “Freedom” is not having everything, and doing everything we want.  It is the ability to manage our own lives within the bounds imposed by the laws of governments and God Himself––the bounds of legality and morality.  When we abuse our freedom, by breaking those laws, we soon find ourselves in bondage, whether by going to jail, or becoming addicted to the things we crave, such as excess food, drink, drugs, sex, gambling or anything that keeps us from fulfilling our responsibilities to ourselves, to others and to God. 

Freedom, and in turn happiness, is finding our purpose and fulfilling it.  For some that means a special calling, but for most of us, it means filling a mundane job and our spiritual role in God’s plan.  We can’t all be brain surgeons, or rocket scientists.  Most of us have less flashy, but no less important roles to fill.  We all have a role to play in serving God and our fellow man. “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2   God offers both freedom and security!