Most people consider freedom as a concept that relates to issues such as poverty or danger or conflict. People love to live in freedom from such external stressors. However, what about freedom as a state of being? Is it possible to live our lives in a state of freedom? That is, can we live in freedom from our self? Can we experience an absence of necessity and an internal freedom from our own impulses and propensities, from our own coercions and constraints that would otherwise influence us to act in certain ways? It’s not so much a question of being able to live in freedom from external stressors; rather, it is whether your life’s quality or state of being can be a condition of freedom from which you then freely act.
Richard Wurmbrand once wrote a sermon that he had first thought of while he was imprisoned in an underground communist cell. In this sermon he spoke of an encounter between the tyrant of Syracuse and the slave philosopher Epictetus. The tyrant offered to pay a ransom to set Epictetus free. But Epictetus replied that the tyrant should rather focus on setting himself free. The stunned tyrant remarked that he was a king and therefore free already. Epictetus is quoted as saying: “This I contest. He who masters his passions is a king even while in chains. He who is ruled by his passions is a slave even while sitting on a throne.”
What a gem of a statement that is! He who masters his passions is a king but he who is ruled by his passions is a slave. It is a precious glimpse into freedom as a state of being: A condition in which one’s life is not bound by one’s own impulses, natural tendencies, compulsive drives, and irresistible carnal urges and mental desires. The one who rules his passions experiences an absence of necessity, coercion, and constraint in choice and action. He who masters his passions is in a state of freedom. He who is ruled by his passions is not in a state of freedom and must therefore choose, speak, and act according to his passions. He is bound. He is a prisoner, captive to his own captivity.
Freedom and being free is often mentioned in the Word and it is indeed for freedom that we are set free. We are intentionally set free so that we can then freely operate through a state of freedom. Freedom is a cardinal faculty which defines our humanity and reflects God, in whose image we are made. And God uses freedom as both a principle and means to restore us into His image. Without first being set free, we cannot use freedom as a state of being through which we can then become liberated from our own influences, perceptions, precepts, and passions. If we do not become free from such then we cannot be saved from ourselves and our own destructive ways. Establishing a liberated state of freedom is a necessary condition through which we can then willingly cooperate with the Spirit of God as He orders, arranges, shapes, refines, and purifies everything in us into His heavenly design and image. This renewing is one of the ongoing cardinal works of God. God always aims for perfection: oneness with the one God.
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