Free - dom

If the fish wants to enjoy freedom outside the environment of water, it will die. Its freedom is limited within the water. The same is true of us; our freedom is always found within the limitations of what God has created us to be and become. Yes! our freedom is limited within the will of God. Free-dom like king-dom operates within a certain domain. True freedom has limits and boundaries. 

We see this playing out for the first time in Genesis 2:16-17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  17 "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."  Adam and Eve ignored these guidelines and we all have felt the serious consequences of that one mistake. In today's devotion I'll address a few issues in our society where many have overstepped their bounds all in the name of freedom.

On sexual purity, Hebrews 13:4 says Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.  The writing is on the wall. It is very clear that God does not condone, tolerate or take kindly those involved in either fornication or adultery. I've had many people say that it's impossible to wait till marriage and that after marriage it's equally impossible to be faithful to one partner. Unfortunately that is a lie from the pit of hell because we have examples of men like Joseph among others even in our times who were chaste against all odds. 1 Thessalonians 4:2-7  for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;  4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,  5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;  6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.  7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. How I pray that we'll all stay within God's will as far as sexual purity is concerned. I strongly believe that God has given us everything we need to lead godly pure lives, so let's not fall for the lie of the enemy; that it's impossible to be sexually pure in this ungodly generation. John 8:36  "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 

On matters abortion, God tells Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."  The abortion debate is the ongoing controversy surrounding the moral, legal, and religious status of induced abortion. The sides involved in the debate are the self-described “Pro-choice" and “pro-life” movements. “Pro-choice” emphasizes the right of women to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy. “Pro-life” emphasizes the right of the embryo or fetus to gestate to term and be born. 

For many people, abortion is essentially a moral issue, concerning the commencement of human personhood( The beginning of human personhood is the moment when a human is first recognized as a person. There are differences of opinion as to the precise time when human personhood begins and the nature of that status), the rights of the fetus, and a woman's rights over her own body (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_debate).

Well with regards to the first moral issue, believe it or not, God's definition of the commencement of human personhood is that a person exists before he/she is formed in their mother's womb. David echoes this in Psalm 139:13-17  For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.  17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!  wow! I believe that settles it. 

Finally, on homosexuality, Jude teaches in Jude 1:6-7  And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;  7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Here strange flesh refers to homosexual acts. God compares the homosexual behavior of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah to the rebelious errant angels who had no respect for boundaries. Homosexuality is unnatural. Paul states it in  Romans 1:26-28 and Moses equally puts it categorically in Leviticus 18:21-22    22 'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Yes! we are free but our freedom ought to be within the set guidelines given to us by God. Let's avoid the temptation to push the limits so as to accomodate our sensual and wicked appetites. The ball is in your court!