I can't stand the television talk shows in which the participants use vulgar language and describe in sickening detail their immoral activities. Those who shamelessly discuss their sins in public obviously think of themselves as liberated persons because they dare to flaunt their immorality. But what a strange kind of freedom! Little do they know how enslaved they really are.

I was reminded of this by a man who was overweight and wheezing heavily. He said, "No one, not even my doctor, is going to take away my freedom to smoke or to eat what I want to eat." His "freedom" soon killed him.

Another man told me he had left his wife so he could be free to live as he pleased. Years later he was a physical and emotional wreck. He admitted that he had become a slave to practices that were killing him, but he didn't change his ways. Within a few years he died.

The idea that we can have true freedom without restraint or discipline is an illusion. Doing what we please without seeking to do God's will brings slavery to sin and leads to death. But trusting and obeying Jesus Christ gives freedom from guilt, from bondage to sin, from feelings of futility, and from the fear of death. That's real freedom!  — Herbert Vander Lugt