We’ve heard of the North Vietnamese prison camps from the mid-20th century. American soldiers and pilots were kept in small cells, confined without adequate light or sanitation, and unable to get free.
Better known are the Nazi concentration camps of WWII. Jews and political dissidents were held by razor wire, starvation, and firepower. German soldiers were told to shoot to kill.
What holds modern Christians? What keeps us from freedom in Christ?
Read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:12:
“ ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything.”
Paul is telling us that our Christianity is not a religion of “Do this” or “Don’t do that.” We don’t worship a Christ of rules and regulations. We worship him as our Savior. He is not a set of dictates that tries to force us into a regimented mold.
However, Paul also says that some things will hinder us in our walk with Christ. Will cigarettes send us to hell? No more than downing too much caffeine in the form of coffee. However, do cigarettes hinder our testimony to those around us? Definitely.
The same applies to other areas. Wanton consumerism, eating to excess, fast driving, and more may not separate us from God, but does it help our witness before our fellow man? If we cannot put those things aside, where is our freedom in Christ?
Paul says, “I will not be enslaved by anything.”
If we cannot set aside our soap operas for a weekly Bible study, then we have allowed barbed wire to encircle us. If we cannot find time for God’s Word, then we are starving even as we consume our steak and potatoes. If a good night’s sleep takes precedence over prayer, the devil’s firepower will keep us from the Lord’s work.
In Christ we are free indeed. It’s when we use our freedom wisely that our bonds of slavery are truly cut loose. It’s then that we find true freedom to worship our Lord and Savior from the depths of our hearts.
Those prisoners in Vietnam and Germany only began to live again when they were set free. We only begin to live in Christ when we refuse to be enslaved by the freedoms of excess that the world seems to provide.
Our freedom in Christ isn’t about what he can give us, but about what we can turn loose of. It’s him we need to treasure, not the things of this world.
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