Deadly Freedom

It is the revelation of our Lord that those who are in Christ have been set free. We have been set free from the penalty of sin and the bondage of the Law. Now, we are guided by the Holy Spirit in us, and He has written the law on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10). The New Testament revelation admonishes us, however, to never let our freedom become that which destroys us: You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (Gal 5:13 NIV).

We are free to do, to go, to eat, and to say anything we wish to do, go, eat, or say. If we are truly guided by the Holy Spirit, and we are truly submissive and obedient to His will, we will always be nestled in the will of our Lord. The problem comes when, if our will is not lost in His, we do, go, eat, and say that which is not only outside His will, but that which is also not beneficial to us. "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV). Just because we are free to do it does not mean that we ought to do it. Or, in the words of the lingo of the 70's: "Just because it's good to you doesn't mean it's good for you!"

Those of us whose resolve has not been strengthened by the power of God can be destroyed by the very exercise of our freedom. Those whose minds are strong and whose spirits are weak may know just enough to destroy themselves. In this culture, our freedom has become a stumbling block to our security. Out of nineteen industrialized nations, the U.S. has the most deaths that could have been prevented. Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine performed a study, looking at deaths before the age of seventy-five caused by numerous diseases and complications. Not only was the U.S. the worst in these rankings, but we Americans are also ranked four places lower than we were in the last study (which covered 1997 and 1998). The more we learn, the worse we get. Our knowledge of how the world and our body works is not keeping us from destroying ourselves.

In an article written for WebMD Medical News on the subject, Louise Chang, MD writes, "Not only does the U.S. have the worst spot on that list, its rate of improvement is also slower than the other 18 industrialized nations included in the study. The U.S. might have been spared an estimated 101,000 deaths annually if its preventable death rate matched that of the top-ranked countries, according to the researchers, who included Ellen Nolte, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine." Nolte's team defined preventable deaths as deaths in people younger than 75 with treatable cancers, bacterial infections, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and surgical complications; all of which are lifestyle related, caused by what we do, where we go, and what we eat. Why then would the smartest, wealthiest, most influential nation in the industrialized world be dying at such an alarming rate of that which is easily preventable? Could it be that our freedom and knowledge have become a stumbling block to our ability to hear from God? The full list of how the 19 countries ranked in preventable death rates: France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, U.K., Ireland, Portugal, The United States of America. For a nation who hates to be last at anything, why are we not only not number 1 in this list but are dead last? Reverend B. J. Lewis, Pastor Emeritus of Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas often attributed the reason for this pitiful truth to our, "Digging our graves with our teeth." I attribute it to digging our graves with our arrogant use of our freedom, and our stubborn refusal to submit to the will and the way of our Lord.