You're Not Worth My Freedom (Pt. 1 of The Freedom Series)
“If you don't [fill in the blank], I'm not going to be your friend anymore.”
Did you ever hear this growing up? I did. This was the trump card. I hated this statement—this ultimatum. I didn't want to lose my friend, but at the same time I wanted my freedom.
You may have heard this, too. The kid who threatened you obviously thought his friendship was good leverage to get you to do what he wanted, and at that moment you were about to confirm or deny his assumption. If you denied, you may have lost his friendship forever. If you confirmed, you would most certainly be wrapped around his finger. Trust me, he knew that if it worked once it would probably work again. He would have you.
If only scenarios like this were a phase that stayed in childhood. I'm sure you can recall an instance in your adult life that doesn't differ too much from this playground scene. Though the terms probably weren't stated as frankly, for as adults we can speak with subtleties, the message was still understood.
A relationship that doesn't allow you expressed personal freedom is not a friendship, but a conditional contract that states, “As long as you do what I want, we can have a relationship.” To be truly free, we have to personally decide that no relationship is worth selling our personal freedom for. If a relationship is so shallow and conditional that it risks falling apart over you exercising your God-given freedom to think and act independently, then it's not worth having. You have to be willing to face that ultimatum as you did in childhood, and despite how you may have responded then, make that choice today for freedom and not bondage.
Join me in celebrating freedom as we approach the date our country declared itself an independent nation, and be free!
-Abigail
"I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts." -Psalm 119:45
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." -2 Corinthians 3:17
Source: This is an original post by A.L. George in "In His Image" facebook magazine.
