You are not a pre-programmed robot. You aren’t an irrational animal, uncontrollably dominated by your own inclinations, either. No, you’re a human being endowed by God with free will. You possess the ability to make choices. You choose whether to do good or to do evil. Likewise, you choose whether you live as a free human being or as a slave.
Freedom does not mean doing whatever you want. A woman who owns a wine bar can drink as much as she wants, but if she doesn’t remain on the Way of sobriety, she will become enslaved by addiction to alcohol. A man who overeats as much as he wants will be enslaved by gluttony. One who tears away the natural beauty of virginity for the sake of either physical pleasure or emotional comfort will be enslaved by lust. When you sin, you commit self-inflicted harm and sell yourself into slavery.
Others, whether demons or human beings, may use their free will to do evil against you. By the power the Cross, transform what has been done to you into something good and beneficial by using your free will to respond with goodness in faith and love. You are not responsible for what others do to you, but what you do to others according to your freedom.
If you live according to self-will, just doing whatever you want, you become a hostage to your own harmful delusions and desires. Avoid becoming captive to false promises of freedom that require you to turn away from the One who loves and cares for you. If you want to be liberated and soar freely, be obedient to the One who gives you wings and makes you free. Carefully align each of your choices in harmony with the Way of Christ. Merge your will with the stream of the Divine Will. Allow the River’s current to carry you where you should go.
The healed human being, guided by the Holy Spirit, lives free. Be sober, watchful, and obedient with wisdom, hope, and joy.
Read: Genesis 2.16-17; 3.1-7; Matthew 7.13-20; 11.28-30; Luke 4.1-19; John 8.31-59; 1 Corinthians 6.12-20; 10.23-33; Galatians 5; Ephesians 1.7; 1 Peter 3.8-22
Text copyright © 2018 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees