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4. Freedom's destruction: self-indulgence
At first thought it would seem that self-indulgence should be the
battle cry of Freedom. Yet, if all one hears from a word like "freedom" is the chance to
get wild without any rules to stop you, then you’ve completely
misunderstood the concept. If you use "freedom" to bring bad
stuff into your life, then your life is going to totally suck, period.
So is "freedom" just the backdoor to "rules"? No, but
freedom only brings forth life when it is guided by the Spirit who teaches us to
live-out the principle of wholeheartedly loving God and neighbor. The difference
is that while true freedom embraces and finds life by loving God and neighbor,
self-indulgence foolishly and franticly grabs at life, only to be left empty
handed. True freedom's gift to us is the "fruit of
the Spirit"--all the great stuff that happens both internally and
externally when our focus is on loving God and "neighbor."
As Paul told the Galatians:
"After all, brothers, you were called to be free; do not use your
freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another
in love....When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious....On
the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control; no law can
touch such things as these" (Galatians 5:13, 19, 22, NJB).
Therefore, if
you use "freedom" to make the most of your life, then not only
will your life be rewarding and genuinely joyful, the Bible says you will
be greatly rewarded by God in heaven. If that’s too weird for you, then
simply realize positive behaviors bring good karma to your life—"you
reap what you sow."
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