Change Focus

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

          One of the questions asked frequently on Quora right now is “What do you miss most during this time of lock down? It’s asked often. One of the things high on my list is freedom. It’s not that my life is hugely different from what it was before the lockdown began. In include it to try to open people’s eyes to the second crisis facing us – the crisis created by the response to COVID-19 and the fact that there are more than 30 million people who have been put out of work by gubernatorial fiat (About 1.2 million have tested positive, and fewer than 70,000 people have died, to put this in perspective.) I feel compelled to speak for those who are being granted no voice, and therefore, to miss freedom. 
          This morning as I prayed, however, this verse came to mind, along with what Viktor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, and things that I’ve written not so long ago. Within the walls of the prison camp in which Mr. Frankl spent part of World War II, he found that the prisoner could have more freedom than the guards. The guards were required to behave and to think in a specific manner. The prisoners had a choice. They could sink into despair, or they could hope. They could hate, or they could forgive. 
         In today’s verse, we’re told to stand firm and not let anyone take our freedom from us. First and foremost, this is our freedom to approach God. The whole point of the letter to the Galatians is that they reject the teachings of those who wanted to make approaching God more difficult. In this sense, with most of us having our lives restricted, there is less to entangle our feet. We are more free to approach God than we are when we’re going here and there. 
          But there are some obstacles to our freedom to consider, and these things sneak back in and shackle us with depressing regularity. One is fear. Another is anger. A third is pain. Remember that list of things that separate us from God. Those are the weapons used to take our freedom.
          Another big one is the lack of forgiveness. When we hold on to our resentments and our pain, we are locking the shackle around our own ankle or wrist and throwing away the key. Your freedom is in your hands. Mine is in mine. I need to remember that and change focus, again.