Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Freedom Can Sometimes Be Messy


The reason Religion places so many rules on us is that Religion is all about order and the appearance of respectability.  In the Spirit there is freedom and when there is freedom, sometimes things get messy.  So, what is so hard about living in freedom? That is the question that we in this country and we who live in the Spirit constantly have to ask ourselves.

Freedom requires responsible actions.  Rules just require blind obedience.  If you live in a dictatorship, you just do what you are told.  If you live in a democracy, you have input into what you can do.  The same thing happens in the church.  If we live in freedom, then we have to weigh our decisions and how they affect others.  Sure we are free to do whatever we want, but there still can be repercussions.  With great freedom comes great responsibility.  That’s why most churches live by rules and not freedom.  At our school, we don’t have many rules because we want our students to learn how to handle freedom.  For the most part they do pretty good, but every now and then, some of them make mistakes.  Shoot, we all make mistakes.  But, mistakes can be messy.

We had a few students make a mistake over the holidays.  Luckily it wasn’t a mistake that couldn’t be corrected, and it was corrected tonight.  But it was a reminder of what is involved in walking in freedom.  I once heard someone say that “Freedom is giving your kids wings, even though you know that they will fall sometimes.”  That is true.

I would rather give someone wings and watch them fall as they learn to fly than keep them in a pen on the ground like a turkey for the rest of their lives.  Sure, freedom is messy, but it is the only way to learn to fly.  I want our students to be able to fly in the Spirit and if it takes a mess every now and then, it is a small price to pay for freedom.

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