Freedom!

We love it when people comment on the blog - that's the idea, for us to 'Think Allowed'. Recently, we took the unusal step of deleting a comment - and that sparked some comments! One of those suggested that we should do a post on freedom - and we freely decided that was a good idea!

We love to think of ourselves as these amazing, independent creatures, evaluating options and freely coming to our own mature, sure we are right, decision. Freedom of choice, freedom to speak, free to live the life we want is many peoples highest goal. 'I did it my way' is the iconic song.

In reality of course, no choice we make is completely free. There are influences on every decision we make, consequences that have to be taken into account. For example, I am writing this from a cafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I'm here because I chose to be, but it wasn't a 'free' choice. In fact there were a number of costs - financial was but one; there's the long-haul flight, the heat and humidity and of course the time away from those I love.  On the plus side of course there's the opportunity to be somewhere I've never been before and the chance to input into the lives of the leaders and trainees that we had invested in during our time in Carlisle. Sometimes the influences can seem overwhelming - as if we have no actual choice. But scripture tells us that 'a bruised reed, I will not break', 'a smouldering candle I will not extinguish'. There are boundaries around the influences, no matter how powerful they seem, we always have choice. Love does not insist on it's own way.

So how do we choose? So often we don't ask 'who is trying to influence us, what other self-interests are in play?' We simply take the costs and benefits; weigh it up, make the decision. Do the benefits seem to outweigh the costs, if so do it, if not, don't. Of course, it isn't always as explicit as that, we don't sit down with a spreadsheet and evaluate it this way... often it will be a gut feeling rather than an intellectual process, nonetheless, that's what in our heart and mind we have done..

It's a seductive process, it gives the illusion that we are in control, masters of our own destiny, but of course it just isn't true. One persons freedom to comment on a blog may result in someone else not having the freedom to be at peace. If everyone chooses what is best for them, at some point their choices will not be good for me and given there are more others than there are of me, this cannot be good news! Similarly, the influences from some quarters may seem plausible, but behind them may be malicious intent - whether mildly in advertising, more dangerous in propaganda or fatally, the direct lies of the enemy.  But even if we are able to accurately assess and give appropriate credence to the influences, we do not have all the facts - ever.

We don't have the full picture, we have no clue as to the full consequences and implications of our choices. So often, we make our choices on the basis of narrow self-interest, based on incomplete information, blind to the mailcious intent behind some of the influences!

In society, democracy attempts to mitigate some of these issues. It provides a crude means for taking into account the interests of others. It provides a legal framework in which individual freedoms are curtailed for the benefit of the whole. But that still leaves the problem that we are poor judges of what is good for us. The internet provides the illusion of personal omniscience, but in truth, Wikipidea is a poor substitute for God's knowledge. It would surely be good to make decisions in the light of a broader wisdom than ours alone.

So what about decision making, freedom in the Kingdom?

Jesus, faced the hardest decision ever - to go to a cross or call on the Father to destroy the world with 'more than 12 legions of angels'. He made the decision based on the full picture. A picture only available through the Spirit and only believable through faith. Human insight and demonic influence all pointed a different way. 'You want to die for people who want to kill you?', 'God has deserted you, make an end to it now'. It was an agonising decision, one which flew in the face of seemingly overwhelming influence. Yet, 'for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame' In human terms, the shame and anguish of the cross, the death it guaranteed far outweighed any benefit. Yet because of this divinely revealed bigger picture, Jesus was able to over-ride the cost and choose instead the way that would bring real freedom for us.

We can do the same. We can choose against self-interest. We can make choices on a divinely revealed bigger picture. We can choose the hard road, the narrow path, the shadowy valley. We can go from Albainia to India and spend our life serving the outcasts. We can go from Middle Class Britain to Albania and serve people there. We can choose against the mere economics of what's in it for me. We can lay down our rights to our freedoms and be like Jesus.

Strangely, in this topsy-turvy Kingdom, as we lay down our life we find life. As we make ourselves vulnerable we are protected, as we empty ourselves we are filled, as we make ourselves poor we become rich. As we submit our will to that of Jesus, we become freer than ever before.

If the son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.

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