by Jerry Senn
“At the close of an important speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt shared his vision of the kind of world he wanted to see after the war was over. He envisioned four basic freedoms enjoyed by all people: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
We can argue about just how successful our nation has been to achieve FDR’s vision. But, our world needs another one, a fifth freedom!!! Mankind must be set free from ourselves and from the tyranny of our sinful flesh.
The book of Galatians has been rightly called “the Magna Carta of Spiritual Freedom.” Others refer to it as, “The Christian Declaration of Independence.” This letter of the apostle Paul was “the battle cry of the Reformation.”
Many of the earliest reformers were empowered by the inspired discourse of Paul’s letter to struggle to achieve spiritual freedom from oppressive religious forces. Dr Merrill Tenny wrote: “Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had Galatians never been written.”
This letter is a message of liberation—of true freedom—release from bondage. And, its message is particularly relevant for today!!! There are all sorts of the: Woke movement, a new morality, a new ethic, free speech, the right of dissent, free love and freedom from authority or law. Those movements provide no true inner spiritual freedom at all—NONE!!!
Man’s deepest need is to be free from the clutches of sin leading to shame, guilt, fear, and inner emptiness without hope. Slavery from sin and its consequences can be ours only when we experience the love of God in Christ Jesus and as we submit our hearts and lives to Him.
Man’s deepest need is freedom from sin, death and the grave. “For freedom Christ (alone) set us free; therefore stand firm” (Gal 5:1). Jesus said, “Come to me…and I will give you rest” from the burdened conscience and a hopeless future. It is a freedom worth pursuing and celebrating.
Questions: Are we living liberated lives and what are we doing to preserve our precious and cherished freedoms in Christ? Claim that fifth freedom today!!!