1 Peter 2:16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
How free do you really feel? We are rapidly reaching the point in Western consumer societies where people confuse freedom with choice, as they are dazzled daily by an ever-expanding array of external choices in consumer goods and lifestyle options. But the pursuit of freedom has led to a surfeit of choices and a scarcity of meaning and value - a point at which choice itself, rather than the content of any choice, has become the heart of freedom. The result is that modern people value choice rather than good choice.
In reading of this verse from Peter we seem to have of two opposite circumstances; namely live as free people and live as God’s slaves. The word slave in the original Greek means someone who belongs to another but in this context it speaks of believers who willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted followers; whereas to the world freedom is the opposite; one who is a not a slave or not under restraint.
Writer Philip Yancey notes that toward the end of his life, Albert Einstein removed the portraits of two scientists–Newton and Maxwell–from his wall. He replaced those with portraits of Gandhi and Schweitzer. Einstein explained that it was time to replace the image of success with the image of service.
In a similar way, Brother Andrew asserts, “I have come to see clearly that life is more than self. It is more than doing what I want, striving for what will benefit me, dreaming of all I can be. Life is all about my relationship with God. There is no higher calling, no loftier dream, and no greater goal than to live, breathe, and be poured out for Jesus Christ.”
Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit working inside me. No matter what my external circumstances are, I know that you are with me and give me the ability to glorify you. I pray that you help me to not use this freedom in vain, but to use my mind and my actions in service to You. Amen.
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