Across history, freedom calls.

Movies portray that history and reflect that longing. In The Ten Commandments, God chooses Moses to lead the suffering Israelites out of slavery. In Amistad, Joseph Cinque chants in broken English from the courtroom witness stand, “Give us, us free!” As he is slaughtered in a castle courtyard, William Wallace, in Braveheart, cries, “Freedom!”

The human condition roars against enslavement of the body, the chaining of the mind, the shackling of the soul.

Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” So, what does freedom really mean?

Being a word nerd, I looked up the Latin. Turns out dom means “house.” Freedom literally translates to “house of the free.” Not house of the slave owner, but of the free.

If a kingdom is the dominion of a king, I pondered, then freedom is the dominion of the free. An area dominated (ruled by) the free.

Think beyond the four walls and the roof you call home. If the house of a king is a whole kingdom, then the house of the free, freedom, is a vast region as well. Through Christ, God has unchained us to enjoy a great expanse of liberty. Something wonderful. And the enemy wants it. 

Included in my medieval mental imagery are invaders. Unwelcome, unwanted, with destruction in their wake. What royal does not defend his kingdom against intruders? He pulls out the trebuchet, readies his archers and prepares the vats of boiling oil. Because the enemy wants to steal the land, to enslave the people.

The free resist attack to preserve the freedom given to them. 1 Peter 5:8-9 states, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith….”

Our enemy wants to steal what God has given us, so we resist. We stand firm against those attacks.

The second part of Galatians 5:1 states, “Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be shackled again by a yoke of slavery.”  Slaves are chained. The free are unshackled, unrestrained and unburdened to live in their homes, their land.

So what is freedom? A home dominated by the unshackled. A place to dwell, unencumbered. A home, where we may live unrestrained, with Christ.

Stand firm against invaders who want to enchain you. Ready the boiling oil.

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