Individual freedom.

Remember, our god is what we believe ultimately will give us happiness, fulfillment, meaning, significance, etc. It is what we sacrifice everything else to obtain.

So, let’s take individual freedom. Has it become our new god?

1) Many young people won’t get married because they believe marriage to be binding and takes away the freedom.

2) Many newly marrieds will not have children since children will definitely mess with their freedom.

3) Many “Christians” will not get involved in their local church since getting involved means being tied.

4) Many will even pursue an older god, money for example, so that they can have financial freedom – their ultimate god.

But will the god of Individual Freedom deliver its promises? Can we truly stay free as we refuse to get involved, get dirty, and live only for ourselves and our concerns? Soon, other gods will demand our attention. The god of family will try to knock off the god of individual freedom through the biological clock. The god of security will try to knock off the god of freedom through a financially stable job. Our old gods make a war against our new god and we are torn between all these gods and we don’t even know what we want. (How many of us get frustrated because we can’t have it all?)

We need a God to rule over ALL gods.

Jesus gave up His individual freedom. When He became human, He was restricting Himself into a body. He abandoned His infinite freedom as God and became bound by time and space. He gave up His freedom not so that we will pursue freedom but so that we will pursue Him!

When you pursue the god of individual freedom, you will lose it. But when you pursue Christ, not only will you gain Christ but also true freedom you have been looking for.

What does it look like practically? Consider #’s 1) through 4) above…