Service and Freedom

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Gal.5:13)

Celebrating the independence of our nation always brings the word “freedom” to mind. It is regarded as one of the most important human rights in most every civilized society. This month it seems appropriate to look at some scriptural passages that speak of freedom in the context of God’s love for humanity.

Service and freedom. While some see these two words as mutually exclusive, the New Testament writings of St. Paul see them as complementary, working together in pursuit of the highest of human virtues, which is love. To serve another human being, when done with a loving heart, is not servitude but voluntary service, a gift of love. If love is not expressed out of freedom, it is not genuine love. To serve another, without expecting anything in return is serving with love. The two, service and freedom, can work together beautifully.

To serve the needs of someone else requires humility, the willingness to put someone else’s needs ahead of our own. Can that really be done freely? Doesn’t freedom mean being able to do whatever we want for ourselves first, without restrictions from anyone or anything else?

From the perspective of Holy Scripture, freedom, as treasured a gift as it is, does have boundaries. “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature,” St. Paul admonishes. Unfortunately, history is filled with examples of this type of misuse or abuse of freedom.

Freedom is God-given; it is most properly expressed, therefore, in ways that please God. Recall God’s commandment to Adam recorded in the book of Genesis. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Gen.2:16-17)

Freedom is given by God to the first Man, Adam; but God also includes restrictions that were for Adam’s protection and well-being. Exercising freedom within the boundaries set-up by God allowed Adam and Eve to enjoy all that paradise, the Garden of Eden, had to offer. Their eventual disregard of those boundaries, of God’s commandment, led to Adam and Eve being expelled from Paradise, as well as a variety of negative consequences for humankind ever since.

Even so, there have been others who have understood God’s original intent regarding freedom, and have chosen to respect His boundaries. King David writes in Psalm 119: “I will always obey your law, forever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” Walking in freedom, for King David, meant obedience to God’s laws, respecting God’s boundaries.

St. Peter describes obedience to God in stronger terms when he writes, “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.” (1Peter 2:16) How do we regard ourselves today as slaves of God?

Slavery is degrading to fellow human beings, disregarding human dignity by forcing someone into servitude. How can we rightly consider slavery as an appropriate relationship between people today, or perhaps as St. Peter wrote, between a person and God?

When slavery is redefined as serving another out of love, and when the service is offered freely and not out of obligation, I think we can begin to see where St. Peter is coming from. If we understand our freedom as God-given, and choose to exercise our freedom within the boundaries God has established, and recognize those boundaries as intended for our wellbeing, I think that King David’s words from Psalm 119 (quoted above) are also more understandable, and more believable.

If I choose to serve the needs of another, whether they are the needs of my children, my wife or my friends, and I do so freely, this does not make me a slave at all, but rather a father, a husband, and a friend. If a slave is one who does his Master’s bidding, the only Master I would ever choose to follow would be our Lord, Jesus Christ, who, as St. Paul reminds, has “loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal.2:20)

The right exercise of freedom is truly one of God’s most important gifts to humanity. When understood within the framework of God’s boundaries, it helps provide the strengthening of all human relationships, in addition to our relationship with Christ our Lord and Savior.