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July
Fourth. A time for celebration. A time of reunions, picnics, parades and
fireworks. A time of lifting up prayers of gratitude for the freedom that
we experience as a nation. But I’d like to talk with you about a different
kind of freedom.
Before you read
any further I might as well tell you – if you are an advocate of Women’s
Lib, you are going to be offended by what I am going to share. How do I
know? Because I was once there myself. I did everything but burn my bra,
and I might have done that if I had been given the opportunity.
Am I saying everything about rights for women is wrong?
Of course not. God never intended the female to be abused and mistreated.
But He did intend for us to be who He created us to be, and to be content
with who we are.
When my husband
was called into the Armed Forces during the Vietnam War, I had never been
"alone." I had always had some of my family around me, 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. For the first time in my life I found myself having to sit
down at a table without anyone else across from me. I found myself going
to bed at night with no one else in the house. I found myself having to
make decisions that normally someone would have made for me. To put it in
worldly terms – I was scared.
But a funny thing happened. I started to discover that I
could do things I had never had to do before. That wasn’t necessarily a
bad thing. Unfortunately I got so caught up in my new-found independence,
that by the time Duane was discharged and ready to come home – I didn’t
care if he did or not!
In fact, I was quite resentful about it. Who did he
think he was to come waltzing back into my life and take over when I had
been doing such a good job on my own. To quote a line from an old sci-fi
show: DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!
I thought I had found freedom. Praise God He had a much
better plan for our lives!
When God has a
hold on your life, He won’t let go! He sent women into my life that not
only submitted to their husbands, but they seemed to be enjoying it!! (I
remember thinking that surely they had been brain-washed - you know, sort
of like that movie, "The Stepford
Wives?")
The sad thing is that through all of this, I
was a Christian. But I had allowed the devil to deceive me into
thinking that God wanted me to be free – that I could do whatever I
wanted. He was half right. God wanted me free. I just didn't understand His kind
of freedom.
I was attending a woman’s Bible study through our
church. And wouldn’t you know that they decided to do a study on
submission! I went in thinking I would show them how wrong they were.
I came out with God showing me how right He was.
Galatians 6:1
says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing
firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
The word "freedom" (or "liberty" in the KJV) is
from the Greek word eleutheria, which translates to mean: true
liberty to live as we should, not as we please.
You may think,
like I did, that freedom is doing whatever you please. It may work for a
while, but the consequences always catches up with you. Always.
But when we live as we should, there is no fear of the
consequences. There is no bondage or addiction. We have a clear conscience
before God and man. It’s submitting to God, and the authorities
(husbands, church leaders, government officials) He has placed over us. That’s
freedom!
If you have
already made the decision to submit to Christ, celebrate your freedom.
If you’re living in bondage, addiction, fear, choose
the liberty that giving your life to Christ brings. Make today your
Independence Day!
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