We believe in freedom. We believe in it so much that as a nation we have sent our brothers and sons… and now sisters and daughters, to fight and die not only to preserve our freedoms, but to secure them for those of other nations.

Freedom was and remains the purpose behind our Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to………. Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. From the Preamble to the Constitution

Likely, most of you reading this piece will, like me, attribute your freedom to God as the author of all freedom. After all, it was God who in the beginning, gave Adam and Eve the privilege of choosing their own way. The serpent, who is the devil (Revelation 12:9 & 20:2), first deceived Eve into disobeying God and then Adam followed suit (Genesis 3:1-7). In doing so, they exercised their own will to go against God’s expressed will and through their actions sin was introduced into the world.

Of course we do not typically like those things that God identifies as sin, especially when these things are done by others against us. We do not like to be abused, lied to or lied about. We do not appreciate thieves who steal from us or vandals who destroy or deface either our property or our surroundings for their own pleasure. Those who do violence to us in these ways and others, how-ever, are simply exercising their freedom.

Is choosing to practice such evils an abuse of freedom? To be sure… but there is no freedom at all if there is no ability to choose evil. Otherwise, God would have to make us all into mindless robots, simply moving about in this world according to a program of His design.

Isn’t it interesting though, that those who abuse freedom, actually rob the rest of us of freedom and the accompanying sense of security that would naturally come with it? Because of their abuse, we are hesitant. We lock our doors and live in the bondage of fear, that someone will exercise their freedom to do us harm. The more freedom is abused, the less of it we have. Conversely, the more we live according to God’s plan of loving Him and each other as ourselves, the more freedom of both mind and body we enjoy.

So, until the Lord returns to bring all things to an end, we will have people whose twisted thinking leads them to do things that to the rest of us are unthinkable. There will be shooters, rapists, molesters, swindlers, addicts, bullies, vandals, thieves, thugs and hoodlums in general who use their God-given freedom of choice to abuse themselves and others as well. It doesn’t have to make sense. It is simply the nature of giving freedom to those who deny their maker and the purpose for which He made them.

So, how are you using your freedom?