My bookshelves aren’t filled with books by Nobel prizewinners, but I did recently come upon a quote by one that caught my attention: “To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one’s freedom” (André Gide).
Gide’s statement initially struck me because it’s so relevant for our nation at this crossroads moment, but I also grasped its personal relevance to me when it comes to how I walk out my Christian faith.
As I pondered this, I realized I’d recently observed a pretty good example of what happens when we abuse the freedom we’ve been given, and I have a couple of dogs to thank for that.
These pups, Meizi and Worf, belong to a friend who used to enjoy bringing her “city” pups out to our land to romp and run. Until, that is, they decided 75 acres wasn’t large enough for them and one day wandered off our property and across a somewhat busy country road.
My friend couldn’t risk losing them, so Meizi and Worf lost their “free range” privileges that day. They’re no longer allowed to freely frolic through our woods, sniffing all the glorious smells of the forest.
But the sad saga of their lost freedoms didn’t end there.
The two pups were restricted to my friend’s fenced-in backyard and house, except when she took them for tethered walks through her neighborhood. But then, out of the blue, Worf started eating her house when she was gone. He had a special liking for door frames and window sills and was beavering his way through her house at an alarming rate, so my friend had to shrink the dogs’ world again, confining them to her backyard and laundry room when she was away.
But then Worf, inspired and assisted by a couple of pups who moved in next door, discovered he could dig his way to temporary freedom under the backyard fence. So until my friend could stake down the bottom of the fence, her dogs were sequestered in the laundry room while she was at work. The world of Meizi and Worf had shrunk from 75 acres, to a house and backyard, to a laundry room.
I’m happy to report the dogs are behaving better now, but what a good lesson they provided about what can happen if we don’t wisely handle our freedom. Real freedom isn’t about doing whatever we feel like doing—running amuck, chewing on windowsills and whatnot—it’s about being who God created us to be and doing what’s right in His sight.
We may be free to sin, but if we follow that path, we ultimately end up entrapped and confined by addictions, paranoia, guilt, lies, and sometimes even literal incarceration. Sin never expands our options. On the other hand, obedience to God allows us to live in a “broad place,” the Bible says (Psalm 18:19).
Before I truly made the decision to follow Christ, I couldn’t imagine anything more restrictive than being “too religious.” I wrongly saw Christianity as an oppressive set of rules and “thou shalt nots.”
That, my friends, was a big fat lie.
In 1 Corinthians 6:12, the Apostle Paul wrote, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.”
That’s real freedom—saying no to things that hurt and enslave us, and yes to what is pleasing to God and life-giving. Not because we have to, but because we choose to.
Meizi and Worf may not have the capacity to grasp that existential concept, but we do. Jesus came and gave His life so we can be truly free. Why would we choose anything else?