Freedom: Liberty or License?
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” – Paul (Galatians 5:1 NKJV)
Love and Lordship in Focus…Liberty is true freedom. License is enslavement to our own passions. Liberty and license both cost us something but liberty brings blessings and license brings burdens and destruction.
On this Independence Day 2025, some thoughts on Freedom…is it Liberty or License? Why do I ask? Because they are not the same…one brings true freedom, the other enslaves!
For real freedom we must know the difference so we’re not deceived and can protect and keep it. Liberty is the opportunity to do what’s right and requires discipline that leads to blessing(s). License promotes self (mine and others) without limitations (boundaries) and requires little or no discipline and leads to bondage and destruction.
How do you tend to think about freedom…as Liberty or license? Better yet…how does your life reflect your concept of freedom?
God’s Divine Order always moves from…
IndividualRelationshipCommunitySystem (state/national governance)
You’ve likely heard Proverbs 29:18 as follows, “Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he who keeps the law is happy.” (KJV) Here are 2 good translations that give more understanding of the relationship between discipline and freedom…
“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint (discipline/boundaries); But whoever keeps the law (commands/guidelines) is happy.” Prov 29:18 (ASV)
“Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” Prov 29:18 (NIV)
There’s a direct correlation between revelation/vision and discipline, law & wisdom. Check out Galatians 6:7-9 (NASB1995).
Without self-governance/discipline there’s never enough systemic government or tyranny to control those who cast off restraint and have no vision or discipline in their lives or relationships. Self-control in each person, marriage, family and relationship allows us to live within boundaries/accountability that must precede communal and national laws. If we don’t understand and apply these Truths, we lose the ability to cast real Vision or to govern freely and subject ourselves to licentiousness and ultimately to bondage or tyranny… from without or within!
Oswald Chambers says this…“Everything is permissible for me –but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me –but I will not be mastered by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NASB1995)…
“We call liberty allowing the other fellow to please himself to the same extent as we please ourselves (that is license – my words and added). True liberty is the ability earned by practice (discipline – my word and added) to do the right thing. There is no such thing as a gift of freedom; freedom must be earned. The counterfeit of freedom is independence. When the Spirit of God deals with sin, it is independence that He touches; that is why the preaching of the Gospel awakens resentment as well as craving. Independence must be blasted right out of a Christian; there must be only liberty, which is a very different thing. Spiritually, liberty means the ability to fulfill the law of God, and it establishes the rights of other people.” Still Higher for His Highest, July 4, “True Freedom, Not Independence”
Self-discipline/self-controlself-respectself-worthself-love
Unless we are willing to practice the self-discipline/control that forms the character in our lives, we will never develop the self-respect and self-worth needed to go outside ourselves and love others fully. (Greg & Ami Williams, p. 120, The Authority of Love, Second Edition) And we will never have true liberty or be free!
Cast off the discipline that gives us liberty, even when deceptively touted as freedom, and we are practicing license that always ends in bondage! (Galatians 5:1 NKJV) So for your sake, those you love and our country, choose the vision that comes only with discipline and with that, our Liberty…our Freedom!
Make it a great Independence Day in Him and God bless!
Because of God’s Divine Order in Creation and His Law of The Harvest (Galatians 6:7-9 NASB1995), we see license (lawlessness) being doled out in government/laws because it is being lived out in other cultural influencers, i.e., family, church, media, education, finance/business, healthcare, technology, etc.
Why are we seeing licentiousness in these influencers? If we are not seeing the Truths of God’s Word, then it falls on us as Christ followers to live and relate in such a way in each of our areas of influence to live with vision, under proper disciplines, in order to know Freedom. If we do not live our lives and relationships in the freedom (disciplines) of Christ, then we risk losing our independence in our culture and nation!
I find it hard to believe that most, if not all, of those who have sacrificed or paid the highest price with their life, as well as their families who have given so much, would look at our country today and say, “This is what we sacrificed and gave our lives for”… to kill babies in the womb; to practice and promote sexual sin while bashing those who do not condone the sin and; to push the destructive ideology of child mutilation in the name of gender transition which can factually and scientifically never be done.
Thank you to all our service men and women and all veterans who have paid a price that allows us, at least for now, to live in Freedom.
Make it a Happy Independence Day in Christ!
Food for Thought…Check out this excellent article for more on our lives as Christ followers, government and freedom. https://www.lawliberty.org/2019/05/29/five-insights-christianity-brings-to-politics/
BONUS: “For Freedom” by Avalon… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJdWT1lZLdI
“Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory” by The US Army Field Band… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6AOGRsR80
Love in Action –
- Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start.
- Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
- What does lie, deception, embellishment conjure up in your mind?”
- What do you need to do to make sure you are in no way deceiving others in order to honor Christ and them?
Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.
Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, help us to stand in love against licentiousness that destroys and stand for the freedom that Christ gave His life for so that we may have true liberty in our lives, homes, culture and nation! In Jesus Name. Amen.
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