Last week we talked about following Jesus – keeping the taillights in view: repentance and believing the gospel.
And it is in following Jesus that we are truly free.
Freedom is risky – and costly. And not simple. Let me talk about James, my greyhound. He must be cautious. He can never be truly free, in that his prey drive kicks in and he likes to chase things. Other dogs can exercise a different kind of freedom, off leash. Not James, and therefore he cannot allow the peer pressure or the jealousy to get the better of him. And those other dogs should not put sweet James in such a tempting position. Which is why freedom is not so simple.
What are you free to do? I mean really free to do?
St Paul talks about this in his first letter to the Corinthians: "Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall."
The greatest freedom is the freedom to love. And this is what love does. Seeks the good of the other. Our freedom can become dangerous, we can easily abuse it. Is that the purpose of our freedom? Is that why Jesus set us free? Or did he set me free to love?