Many people think of Patrick Henry and his famous speech during the Revolutionary War that had a part in it "Give me liberty or give me death".
As an American, it was grounded into me from a young age that we are born with certain inalienable rights which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But, what I was brought up believing liberty was and what people today think of liberty is vastly different. To me, liberty is a right to freedom, but to many people today liberty seems to be a form of censorship.
Galatians 2:4- And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
You have the freedom to decide your lifestyle, but others must lose their freedom to think ill of it. You have the freedom to choose to murder your unborn child regardless of what caused the pregnancy, but others must lose their freedom to question the child's right to life. You have the freedom to "protect" your child the way we see fit, but you lose the freedom to say which way you think is best to protect your child. And, so much more.
I Corinthians 10:29- Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?
Sadly, today liberty is actually the loss of personal freedom for the furthering of an ideology or agenda. My liberty is removed to make someone else feel better about themselves. My freedoms are dissolved to make me accept what another can barely accept of them self!
Christ died to give us liberty from sin, not liberty to sin!
Galatians 5:1- Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Today's Christians either go too easy with the whole "live and let live" or they go too hard with the "do everything I say the Bible says to do"! There is a balance. We have a liberty in Christ to grow as an individual. What may be a stumbling block for one person won't be for another.
Galatians 5:13- For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
So, one Christian doesn't eat pork. Another is vegan. And, yet another is an omnivore!
One Christian celebrates Christmas. Another sees it as bowing before a pagan religion.
The Bible gives us liberty to celebrate or not, to eat or not, so long as we can do it to the glory of God. No where does the Bible say it's wrong to observe Christ's birth. No where does the Bible tell you that as a New Testament Christian you cannot drink coffee.
But, there are Christians out there who will put so many rules and restrictions on you and twist he Scriptures until you cannot hear the voice of the Spirit over their regulation shouting!
II Peter 2:18-20- For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Did you ever think that God deals with us as individuals? Perhaps God is more concerned with someone's covetousness rather than their dietary decisions. Maybe God can use the person at the holiday party as a witness more than the one who holes up during the festivities and shouts about the history of why it's wrong.
Until you can see the persons heart, you have no right to lay burdens upon another. Nor, do you have the right to deny their freedoms in Christ!
Romans 14:4- Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
The world is slipping into debauchery and Christians are stubbornly proclaiming each one his own standard of the Christian life instead of winning these poor lost souls.
So, before you cause a new Christian to stumble or regulate a sinner into hell, perhaps you should think about what to tell the Lord when you stand before him and give an account of how you allowed some lost sheep to die in his sins while you were distracted with straightening up the saints!
I Corinthians 3:13- Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
And, before you justify your sinful choices and expect everyone to absolve you of the consequences of your actions, maybe you should think about how your decisions affect others.
Romans 14:7- For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
We all have liberty in Christ to preach the gospel to the dying nations. Let's not forget what Christ left us here to do!
Isaiah 61:1-3- The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
