The contemporary world’s idea of freedom is flawed because the ultimate stress is on people having there own way. Because self-rule is in, itself , the most original sin this kind of freedom is actually just another form of bondage.
But “perfect freedom” is something else entirely. Flawlessness and God are synonymous. But our idea of perfection and His are two very different things. On the fallen human level it is sometimes seems a state to be frantically work towards. “Perfectionism” is the result and it is sinful as well because it depends on our fallen nature’s attempt to be as God . Only God is truly perfect and His perfection is innate. In other words He does not need to achieve anything to have it. To gain it by the effort of the flesh is impossible. When we try to attain to this state in this way our own pride is often the hidden motivation behind the attempt.
The blessed alternative is to trust the Lord and depend on Him to make us perfect in the truest sense of the word. When we allow God to apply His nature to us by trusting in the “perfect man”, Jesus Christ, perfection becomes a gift received, not a goal we have achieved. When the Bible says “Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” I believe it means allowing Him to remake us in His image. In that way and that way alone can a human being come to know what it means to have freedom from sin, the only freedom that is worth having.
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