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| a girls' school in Antigua, Guatemala |
As I was walking my dog early this morning I observed a recreational aircraft flying overhead. I thought about how I could probably be a pilot if I wanted to be –not that I would want to be a commercial pilot but it would be cool to have my aviator’s license. Here in the States we have so much freedom to do almost anything we want within reason and become practically whoever we want to be within reason. The more I contemplated this idea of freedom –and I am not strictly speaking “freedom” as in having political independence –the more I realized that freedom isn’t really “freeing” in the sense that we would like it to be.
We are told that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). It’s kind of ironic to think how more money usually leads to more “freedom” but more “freedom” doesn’t necessarily mean one is more “freed.” Not that more money and hence more freedom always lead to more worry, more comparison, more greed, etc. but that is often the natural pattern.
As psychological beings we often reason that whatever choice we make between two equally good options that it was the best choice in order to lessen any cognitive dissonance we often experience after the decision is made. However, in the backs of our minds we are always questioning whether we should have became a doctor instead of a lawyer or if we should have bought a boat instead of a new car or if we should have vacationed in Switzerland instead of Sweden. With such an endless array of choices to be made, how can we ever achieve full contentment? True “freedom” is only found in Jesus Christ and it is only through Him that we can really escape this American illusion of “freedom.”
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).
Whenever I think about my time in Guatemala I keep picturing all these little orphans who owned not one thing in this world but still donned the biggest smiles I have ever seen. They have very little freedom in our sense of the word freedom but they possessed the most freeing spirit I have ever seen.
