Wisdom in the Midst of Freedom

Freedom. Freedom gives us the liberty to say what we want to say, do what we want to do, go where we want to go, and think what we want to think. Those of us in the United States often times boast about living in the land of the free, but rarely do we discuss the responsibility that goes along with that very same freedom.

Think back to the day when you turned eighteen, or you went off to college, or you finally moved out of your parents’ house. For most us, part of the excitement of that time of life was the idea of being free – free from our parents looking over our shoulders and telling us what we can or cannot do. We were free to go out when we wanted to go out, with whom we wanted to go out with, and could stay out as long as we wanted. What we may not have realized at the time was that most of our parent’s decisions were made for our own protection.

When protection is viewed as captivity, we usually can’t wait to escape it. Unfortunately, what we often fail to realize is freedom without wisdom can quickly lead to bondage. This is why so many teenagers leave home and make poor choices. Yes, they are free, but they often times lack the wisdom necessary to make good choices and as a result find themselves bound by the consequences of their own decisions.

With all we have experienced in our world over the last few months, many of us are probably feeling like the teenage version of ourselves and just can’t wait to get out of the house. Instead of feeling like we’ve been sheltering at home for two months, we may instead feel like we’ve been imprisoned at home forever. Now that the time has come where the stay home order is being lifted for most of us, we can’t wait to go out and do all the things we haven’t been able to do. But, we still have to use wisdom in the midst of freedom.

The beauty of freedom is that just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. God gives us all free will, which means He gives us liberty to make our own choices. But just because we are free to choose to live a life of sin, doesn’t mean we should.

True freedom is a state of not being imprisoned or enslaved – not by someone else and not by the consequences of our own choices. The Bible says wisdom is calling out in the streets. So, the only way we can miss it is by choosing to ignore it. In the midst of our newly regained sense of freedom, let’s also be sure to use godly wisdom.

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