Freedom (Part 2)

Infinite choice is not freedom. Imagine going into your closet and getting ready for work. How many of you have more than 3 pairs of pants? More than 5 shirts? Very simple multiplication leads us to see that you have to choose between 15 possible outfits. Need to wear a tie with one of those shirts? Let's say you have 10 ties. Now your possible outfits equal 150 (assuming they all match). Now you can see why you might spend 10 mintues in the morning trying to figure out what to wear; or even why a woman could look at 150 outfits and exclaim, "I have nothing to wear!" (nope...doesn't explain that one, but it was worth a try).

Well I must have close to 25 ties. I have over 70 t-shirts. And no, I'm not saying I wear them together, I'm just making a point (although, with 80's fashion on the rise, I might start doing just that). It is sometimes difficult to decide which option to choose. Similarly, if you have a spare moment and you want to: A) work out B) eat ice cream C) read a book D) watch TV E) do household chores, your vast array of choices doesn't make it easier to find something to do, but more difficult. In such a case, one usually chooses the path of least resistance. In the example above, you will likely eat ice cream WHILE watching TV (or maybe that's just me).

Now if unlimited choice leads to a dilemma, and the easiest way to solve the dilemma is to solve the dilemma the easiest way, then there is little hope that we could ever rise above settling for less. But the problem is that the easy way is usually the wrong way. If you want illustration of this point, see "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. Or, as a Marine once told me, "Easy equals dead."

Enter Christ. He has told us that he came to give us abundant life. "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." The irony is that the above position is now reversed. Freedom means loving God. "The one who loves me is the one who obeys my commands." So freedom in Jesus means that we give up the freedom to choose a bunch of easy, destructive options. We are free to make only one choice, and that is "the hard but right way," as stated by Bunyan.

Other options will still surface. I find myself deluded into thinking that they are still viable choices for me. Like Christian in Bunyan's allegory, I wander into some pleasant looking field, only to be trapped by the Giant Despair. The key to freedom is to actively pursue the difficult road. Alfred Lord Tennyson said it like this: "I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair." I can be lazy and fall into a rut or ruin myself with some easy choice, or I can follow Jesus, even when it is tough...or perhaps precisely because it is tough. The Son has set me free, and I can now throw myself into acting on his behalf and for his kingdom.

Only one choice: Freedom.