Freed to Serve by Margaret Manning

very thought-provoking and very true article:

Freed to Serve

A recent article in Christianity Today magazine caught my attention. With an excerpt from his forthcoming book What Good Is God?, author Philip Yancey discussed his speaking and listening tour throughout several countries in the Middle East in 2009.(1) Part of his listening included hearing how the "Christian" West is viewed by those living in predominantly Islamic countries. Time and again, he heard a familiar refrain: freedom in the West was equated with decadence. Yancey writes, "Much of the misgiving...for the West stems from our strong emphasis on freedom...where freedom so often leads to decadence."(2)

Of course, Yancey would quickly acknowledge that the freedom we enjoy in the West is often taken for granted. In general, we are free to do and to be whatever we want. We move unhindered towards the achievement of our own personal freedoms and objectives, without worrying about impediment or coercive control from outside forces. Certainly, we enjoy the privilege of the freedom to move about our country across state borders effortlessly. We have the freedom to worship, unhindered by government intervention or surveillance. Many of us who have financial abundance are able to access freedoms that only money can buy. We are free to think as we want, speak what we want, and do what we want. In comparison with people in other countries, we have the freedom to fill in the blank with endless possibilities. Freedom is the air we breathe.

But if we take an honest look at how freedom is exercised in the Western world, we ought to turn a careful ear to this critique from those looking in from the outside. Our association of freedom with doing, being, or saying whatever we want is often cut off from the intended ideal. We isolate freedom to the realm of personal freedom, with little constraint or thoughtfulness to corporate consequences or responsibility. We do not often associate our gift of freedom with the opportunity to serve others.

The apostle Paul wrestled with this issue as he wrote to the early Christians at Corinth. In discussing matters of personal freedom he exhorted these early Christians that "all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his or her own good, but that of his or her neighbor....whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:23, 24, 31). In his letter to the Galatians who were tempted to trade freedom for the grip of the law, Paul reminds, "[Y]ou were called to freedom; only do not turn your freedom into and opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 3:13-14).

Paul's definition of freedom for love and service seems to fly in the face of understanding freedom as doing whatever one wants to do. And while we rightly deplore the restriction or oppression of human freedom as evidenced in totalitarian regimes and systems, we should likewise deplore the unchecked, unthinking, and often self-centered understanding of freedom that occupy many Western societies and systems. We are called to freedom. Paul reminds us of the true intention for freedom—it is a freedom for others—and not simply so we can pursue our own self-interest. It is a freedom grounded in love for the sake of another.

- Margaret Manning, writer for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries