Do you enjoy the freedoms that you have? Do you appreciate those freedoms? Sometimes it is easy to take those freedoms for granted—isn't it?
Freedom is a blessing! Do you enjoy the freedoms that you have? The freedom to speak without repression? The freedom to go where you want to, when you want to? The freedom to worship as you choose? Do you appreciate those freedoms? Sometimes it is easy to take those freedoms for granted—isn't it?
My wife and I had the opportunity to visit National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. As we walked through the three floors of exhibits and artifacts from the times of slavery in the United States, we were sobered and grieved to see how slaves were treated and traded. As I looked at the chains, ropes, handcuffs, the leg irons and whips, I reflected on the pain and sorrow that those slaves must have felt by their inhumane treatment and by being deprived of their freedoms.
I also admired the likes of Jonathan Parker and Pastor John Rankin and their families who used the "underground railroad" to help escaping slaves find freedom—often at risk of their own lives. They first hid the slaves and then helped them find their way to Canada where they would be free and safe from pursuing slave owners. One quote from a freed slave was, "What does freedom mean?" Having freedom for the first time for many, was a frightening thought. How grateful I am that the slaves were finally freed and could taste freedom for themselves!
Picturing myself as a slave, looking at the rebuilt holding house at the Freedom Center and seeing actual price tags for slaves, actual human beings, made me thankful for the freedoms that you and I enjoy today.
Those scenes at the Freedom Center also made me reflect on the words of another author.
William Barclay commented in his Daily Study Bible Series on James and Peter, "So long as a man has to obey his own passions and emotions and desires, he is nothing less than a slave. It is when he accepts the will of God that he becomes really free—for then he is free to be what he ought to be."
This is the freedom from sin that is possible through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That, too, is a cause for rejoicing! You and I have something that may be passed along to others—the way to be free. That is part of the gospel message —on how you may become free from sin and voluntarily do the will of God.
So, don't forget to be thankful for all the freedoms that you have and remember to extend those freedoms to others as you walk down the path of life.
For, freedom truly is a blessing!
For GN Magazine, I'm Gary Antion.
