What is freedom anyway??

I know this for sure: A lot of people believe they live in freedom, when in reality, they’re in a straight-jacket. How do I know? Because it happens to everyone…including me.  

For years, banks have been loaning people piles and piles of money, and then those people feel the freedom to go buy the stuff they want.  Yet most just end up trapped by debt, and now struggle to pay their bills. What happened to the feeling of freedom? Was it real or just an illusion?

What about lust? Every day we look at things we wish we could have, and many times end up dwelling on how we can get it. But why? And what does it mean? The author of a great little book called Sex God wrote, “If I want something to the point that I can’t conceive of being content without it, then it owns me.” We all lust of things we wish could have, but we are not free.

Lust is slavery.

And what about our careers? We want the right jobs so we can make the right money and be free to live out the American Dream. Is that wrong? Is it true freedom?  It’s a valid question and likely depends on our motives.

Tim Keller, in his book, The Reason for God, wrote, “In our society many people have worked extremely hard to pursue careers that pay well rather than meet their talents and interests. Such careers are straight jackets that in the long run stifle and dehumanize us.”

I have friends who have currently decided not to live out the lives God created them to live, all because they want the “freedom” to live the “way they want to live.” But are they really free? Or, are they merely trapped in a lie, and have succumbed to the pressure to perform for the rest of the world? They aren’t living for freedom. They’re living for acceptance by the world around them.

That’s just counterfeit freedom.

There was a season of my life where I thought I had freedom, mainly because I was deceived into thinking that I was finally free to do whatever I wanted.  I grew up in a small town with no money. Then I started traveling the world doing magic shows, and started making friends and making money.  I got to live where I wanted to, in the sized house I wanted to live in.  I got to drive the cars I wanted, eat where and what I wanted, have whatever sized TV I wanted, and on and on and on.  But was I really free? Not at all.  I was trapped, and the result was a vicious circle of meaninglessness.

I was living in a straight-jacket, and my freedom was just an illusion.

Let’s be honest…I wasn’t living for myself. That may have been the desire and intent, but really?  Was I really living a certain way because I wanted what was best for me? Or do we live the way we live because we fall into the pressure to perform?

To be seen driving that car. Wearing those clothes. To be seen with that girl. For people to know we live in that house.

We’re just putting on a show, but really, we’re stuck in straight-jackets. Because the freedom we’re chasing is not only an illusion, it traps us, and we become slaves to our desires.

So let’s go back to our original question: What is freedom?

What does it mean to be truly free? What is the truth? And is there truth that can set us free?

What is freedom? And if it exists, how do we get it?