Freedom From and Freedom For

When prisoners are set free, they often are gleeful and grateful, but directionless. They experience a freedom from prison, from the cage, from the bars behind which they were punished. This is what prisoners desire and for which they live, but once that freedom from the prison is a reality, then what? Sadly, many return to previous patterns of behavior. This is one of the reasons there is a high level of recidivism. The same happens for those who suffer from addictions and begin recovery, there is a relief followed by the temptations that too frequently lead to relapse. There is a perception focused on living without the addictive substance, not a focus on living in the liberty that comes without the addiction. Likewise, at the end of WW2 in Europe, those liberated from the prison camps of the Nazis wandered the roads and towns not knowing what to do, where to go. They were free from, but not free for...
“Freedom for” is purpose and identity and direction. “Freedom for” is meaning in a world bereft of meaning, in a world made up of insignificant meanings, insignificant purposes, insignificant aims and goals.
“Freedom from” is the cross. We are free from the sin and its punishment.  We are free from darkness and death and despair and hopelessness. We are free from separation from God.
“Freedom for” is the resurrection.  We are free for joy and gratitude and purpose. We are free for love and loving. We are free for living in God’s presence. Therefore we are free for living sacrificially for others.
Freedom from must always be married to freedom for, otherwise it is temporary and fleeting. And freedom for must be married to freedom from, otherwise it is planted in shallow soil and becomes frustrated by the apparent failures to liberate others, neglecting that there are still many crosses in the world.

© 2018 Stephen Carl