Fixed On Liberty
James 1:23-25 KJV
(23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
(24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
(25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
What could be better than liberty and the blessed and prosperous deeds that come from living in it? Why would anyone even consider letting their eyes drift the slightest to gander on anything else? And yet, this is exactly what is done as eyes that were once fixed on freedom and liberty are distracted in their gaze to behold something that is packaged up so nice and pretty, but is really just a debilitating trap. Liberty yields blessed and prosperity producing acts as long as it is the focus, while the allure of a blessing without working for it is really just a fixation on well disguised bondage. Once the heart is given in its gaze to this facade, it will yield itself to a life that insists on a right to something for which the required work has never been expended. This eventually leads to an ending of blessing at all as what is seen as the source for relief and promotion is really just the chains for restricting bondage.
The Venus Fly Trap looks like an abundant source of blessed nectar to the insect in search of an easy meal, but as soon as it lands within the wide open and receptive leaves of the plant it finds itself sealed off immediately from the freedom it once knew. Sponges living in the ocean depths similarly have an attractive and nonthreatening appearance, but for the small creature that is lured close to them there is a complete loss of liberty and life as they become hooked or stuck to the organism that eventually sucks their life from them. The society that is drawn in by the enticing allure of security and care provided by a ‘benevolent’ and ‘understanding’ government is a society that will eventually find itself in the clutches of a restricting force that will extract its very life substance and productivity. To be drawn at any time from an insistent and persistent gaze upon liberty and its active pursuit is to discover the tragedy of that enticement’s great expense- the loss of freedom’s life.
Liberty for our nation has been bought with the blood of thousands of men on the battle field, while liberty for our souls has been bought and paid for by the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What heartbreak for either to be given up and sacrificed for any well dressed image of something better. This day has great potential in the productive purpose for which we were created, and only in the continual gaze upon the law of liberty that makes us who we really are will this be realized. To turn away to embrace a pretense of any alternative experiment will only compromise the complete and total liberty that enables, empowers, inspires and motivates us as the free. May liberty be where we remain in this and in every coming day as we gaze on into its perfect law.
