The subtle inclination these days is to value independence and freedom above reasonable limits. Yes, there should be limits to our freedom and independence. When we fail to observe good limits in the exercise of our freedom or independence, we risk sliding into the realm of reckless prodigality.
The Bible gives a beautiful picture of how dangerous it is to live without good limits. A man approaches his father to divide his inheritance and afford him the resources due him. His father obliges him. Freedom to choose! He gets what he wants and thinks he is now independent. To prove this, he leaves his family and travels to a different location, far from them, and begins to exercise his ‘new-found freedom’. What independence! No more, ‘come and do this’, ‘come and do that’. And, no guidance of any sort. He simply resorts to pleasure and extravagance.
He exhausts his resources and can no longer afford to sustain his daily living. His freedom crashes. He becomes a servant to a more prudent guy in that location. He losses his independence. He now depends on the guy he works for. He realises he needs informed dependence and true freedom – a freedom that doesn’t confer licentious and wanton dispositions. He goes back to his father who receives him and honours him.
Many a time, we want to break loose from any form of ‘control’ – that is what we call the watchful counsel of a wise shepherd! We run away from God because we want to do the bidding of our hearts and flesh. And we become estranged from Him and wretched like the prodigal son. But our Father (God) waits for us and He longs to take us back and honour us.
The freedom that we seek and the independence that we want are not found in the reckless counsel of ‘Church drop-outs’, influencers, or those who claim that they want to open their eyes to a higher and better living. They can only be found in Christ.
Don’t be like the prodigal son. He had everything at home but he hopped into penury and despondence. You have everything you need at home with God. Don’t allow your quest for pseudo-freedom and jaundiced independence to drive you from the true freedom and profitable independence that we find in Christ Jesus.
Today is the day to both decide and live right.