Freedom

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

Years ago I can remember flipping through the television stations one night trying to find something worthy of watching - which is getting harder and harder anymore - and was captured by a unique figure on a strange station called EWTN (the Eternal World Television Network) - sounds cool, doesn't it? The show was in black, white, and shades of grey. The man was clearly a Catholic priest or, as I later learned a bishop. He was in full costume - cape draped over his shoulder, beany on top of his head, cross (huge) hanging perfectly square in his chest and somehow the chain catching in the middle as if afraid to fully extend lest the cruciform fall from its grasp and be desecrated. The cumber bun  serving to wrap the finished product. Captivating man. One whose presence I have yet to emulate but pray I will. He was speaking to me...and a million other viewers I guess. A commanding voice. Sure of his message. Certain of his audience. Piercing a live audience with his eyes, with his convictions, and they loved him. I wasn't Roman Catholic but I would have been if I had watched him often enough. Persuasive. Holy. In his day he was a vocal proponent against the Nazis and the Communist agenda to destroy the United States from within. Bishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1975) was his name (formally:  The Right Reverend Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, Ph.D., D.D.). 

I was reminded of him this morning as I was reading through a book of classic sermons from 1946 for my added devotional material. His is entitled: The Purpose of Life. 

If I might indulge the reader with his opening paragraph: "There is no word more often used in our modern world and more often misunderstood than the word freedom. Almost everyone thinks of it as freedom from something, but rarely freedom for something. Men think they are free only because they have no ball and chain on their feet, without ever adverting to why they want to be free. What I am trying to say is there are two kinds of freedom; an external freedom from restraints, and an internal freedom of perfection; a freedom to choose evil and a freedom to do whatever you please, and a freedom to do whatever you ought." 

I see the pain of birthing an external freedom in my world at present. Broken storefront windows, looting, murdering, raping, intimidating what used to be good neighborhoods where good folks sat outside on their porches and let their kids play in each others yards. Portland will never be the same. Chicago...New York...St. Louis...no thanks. Those who enter the night to do what comes natural in the night - as those who have no light - are choosing, choosing to be free - free to be evil with no plans for their freedom except to enslave others, to be agents of destruction. 

But lest I neglect the state of my own soul, "Am I choosing to do what I ought?" 

I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie with my grandkids this morning. One of the boys at school, the teacher's son, was coerced through the guilt of not measuring up to his parents standards to cheat on his final exams. Another classmate intentionally missed questions so that the other boys would not make fun of him for being so smart. The first boy fessed up and was forgiven. The latter was challenged about cheating as well. "I would never," was his reply. "And yet you have," his father explained. "You have cheated God, your family, your schoolmates, and most importantly yourself by not living up to your potential." 

I know he's dead but I feel like Bishop Sheen is staring at me right now. How are you using your freedom, Dan? Are you standing up against the social evils of your day as I did? Is love of God and love of man on your heart? Is the good news on your lips for the lost to hear?

Be free...

To choose what kind...