ARE WE TRULY FREE?

"WAKE UP!" The alarm clock is buzzing freely in your ears obnoxiously letting you know that it is time to go to work. Another day of doing a job (J.O.B. “Just-Over-Broke”) that you don’t really like, to get paid less than your true worth, of which the majority of the money is already spoken for, before it ever reaches your bank account, never to even touch your hands! How did we get here? Our parents, teachers, and society tells us to go to school, get a good job, and everything will be ok; but is this it?

Ok, ok, but first things first, what is a good job? In the times that we are in today, a lot of us are just happy to have any job, let alone a good one; and if one job isn’t enough to pay the bills, then maybe two or three will do. But, after this is accomplished, if we ever get a chance to breath for a second, we ask ourselves, “When did my job become more important than the time I spend with my loved ones, or taking care of my health?”

 I know, I know, our bills are to maintain our living, and our debts are from more luxury than necessity, but how and when did we rely on trading labor and precious time for meager wages, instead of leveraging ourselves, time and talents to work towardsprofits? If we are truly FREE, then why does it feel like we are slaves to our jobs and current circumstances?

What if we were to take the time to really establish a greater embrace of responsibility as well as discover the gifts & talents that we possess in order to create an environment to serve others with what we excel in? We would create and establish a life that allows for more time, (time to spend with loved ones, maintain our health, go on vacations, enjoy our hobbies, etc.) a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment each day as we do what we love and serve others with it, and an escape from living paycheck to paycheck enslaved to that which we currently are bound. Think FREEDOM!

Despite the laws and cultural status’ of the many nations that make up the world that we live in today, if we take a look at our present situation and mentality of ourselves and as a society, are we truly living in freedom? Before you answer this question in your mind, let us take a journey into freedom and the very nature of its mandate!

 Dr. Myles Munroe defines freedom as:

Free-dominion merged together equals Freedom. True Freedom is therefore “the liberty to dominate the earth through one’s unique gifts and talents in fulfillment of the intended purpose for one.” In essence, each individual was created to dominate the environment through his or her personal gifts and talents, in pursuit of fulfilling the purpose for his or her life and to serve others with that purpose. Freedom is the liberty to fulfill a life of serving others with the gift of that purpose, without restricting or controlling another while that person fulfills his or her purpose and serves you.

True freedom is self-discovery of one’s personal purpose and the liberty to pursue the fulfillment of that purpose according to the Kingdom laws and principles, without restricting others from doing the same. 

“When oppression becomes a mental condition, then physical freedom is not enough.”

It is this crucial principle that the book, “The Burden of Freedom” by Dr. Myles Munroe addresses:

The mind is the key to life. “As a man thinks in his heart [mind], so is he” – proverbs. Therefore, your mental state is more important than your physical state. You are not free until your mind is set free. Freedom is first a mental condition before it is a physical statement.

The source of freedom is not legislation or a key to a chain, but rather knowledge – the discovery of information powerful enough to set you free in your mind. If man is what he thinks, then a man is not free until he thinks free.

We must learn that freedom is not the absence of law, work or labor, but the embracing of responsibility. We must be awakened to the reality that true freedom imposes more laws than slavery [jobs], demands more work than slavery [jobs] and demands more self-control and discipline than slavery [jobs]. The foundation of true freedom is management—self-management and management of our environment. This is the first and ultimate purpose for mankind. In slavery you do not manage—you are managed. Therefore, freedom is a return to the responsibility of stewardship. The first command to mankind was to manage the real estate called Earth. Man was given the management contract to manage the earth, and his freedom is inherent in this dominion mandate. You are not free until you are able to dominate an area of earth with your gift.

Freedom is essential to all moral responsibility, and moral responsibility is one of the institutions of the human mind. However, freedom demands and could be defined as responsibility. There is no freedom without responsibility. Freedom is the delegated right and release of authority to be responsible for governing and managing your designated sphere of influence through your natural gift in fulfillment of the purpose for your life.

Freedom is taking responsibility for your life. It is designing your destiny and deciding your own consequences. True freedom is a matter of the mind—not of human law. Self control and self-discipline are both attributes of true freedom because discipline is self-imposed law. This is freedom.

So as we take inventory of our lives to see whether we are truly living in the freedom that is before us, let us study further the foundational principles of freedom itself. Afterwards we will have a great ascertainment of the steps we should take in the future towards establishing dominion in the area of our gifting and free ourselves from the bondage that enslaves our mind and our circumstances.

The excerpts of this article were taken from the must-read book: “The Burden of Freedom” by Dr. Myles Munroe, he is credited as the teacher of these awesome principles that breakdown freedom in its purest form!