The
modern, secular world promotes
a rather odd notion of freedom. Many people believe that freedom
means doing whatever we want whenever we want regardless of what
other people may think, sometimes with the condition that we don't
hurt anyone else (usually without much thought to what actually hurts
others and ourselves).
Zechariah's
prayer provides a different idea of freedom...God's idea of freedom.
God, says Zechariah,
remembers His covenant, shows mercy, and frees His people from their
enemies, but He doesn't free them so that they may simply do whatever
they feel like. He frees them that they may serve Him and
worship Him in holiness and
righteousness.
So
God frees us from something, namely, our enemies, whatever brings sin
and death into our lives. But He also frees us for something,
namely, to serve and worship Him in holiness and righteousness.
Freedom,
then, in God's eyes is the ability to pursue Truth, Goodness, and
Beauty. It is the power to worship without fear. It is the
opportunity to discover what is
right and to do it, to learn the truth and to
embrace it, without the restraints
of sin and error. It is the
privilege to appreciate the beauty around and within us with wonder
and joy. It is the
delightful capacity to know and love God,
to receive His plan for our lives with
peace, to be set apart for
Him as His beloved children, and
to one day join Him in eternal bliss.
Now
that is true freedom.
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