Mice, Mousetraps and Free Cheese

Who doesn’t like free stuff? Every week I scan through the local grocery store flyers for the “buy one, get one free” deals. If what I’m looking for isn’t among the store’s offers this week, I usually wait until it’s available on the two-for-one sale.

Of course, it’s not really “free.” The store had to pay for the extra item I receive, and its cost is absorbed by profits generated by the regular-priced other items they hope I’ll buy during my grocery store visit.

We’re often told “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” but during my business career there have been numerous times I received a free lunch. But it wasn’t completely free, because someone else paid for it. It might have been a friend, or my host while I was traveling. A restaurant might have offered free lunches to customers as a promotion, but at minimum, they had to cover the cost of the entrée, side items and my beverage. Free to me, yes, but not completely free.

I try to avoid getting political in my posts, because my mission when I write is solely to exalt my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and communicate the practical relevance of the Scriptures for everyday life. But I have to admit to getting annoyed when I hear elected officials debating “free stuff.”

For instance, Social Security and Medicare benefits are often regarded as “entitlements,” when in fact most Social Security beneficiaries and Medicare recipients have had funds deducted from each paycheck for years and years. We’ve even gotten annual statements to report just how much we have paid into those Federally controlled accounts. The benefits we receive aren’t free and never have been. If they’re entitlements, it’s because we’re truly entitled to get back what we’ve paid in.

Yet we still hear about “free” college, “free” healthcare, and lots of other freebies. Payday everyday – and no work on payday. (Okay, I made up that last one, but don’t be surprised if someone proposes it. Maybe during the Presidential election campaign.)

Recently, I came across an anonymous quote that illustrated the “free stuff” myth that so pervades our society today: “Mice die in mousetraps because they don’t understand why the cheese is free. Same applies to socialism.” Chew on that for a few moments – that’s what the mice did.

Lest this be perceived as a political rant, I’d like to shift gears to consider the “free stuff” we’re promised in the Bible. Because the Scriptures do use the term “free” a lot. One of the most foundational passages, Romans 6:23, informs us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

In another context, we’re also told, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). This freedom is referring to becoming freed from the tyranny of sin, but even in this case, the freedom did not come to us without a price. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). 

Incredibly, it’s easy to take the gift of eternal life for granted, almost as if it’s an entitlement. Doesn’t John 3:16 say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life”? Yes, God loved us – and still does. And He wanted us to experience eternal life – and still does. But it came at a cost: Jesus’ sacrificial, atoning death on the cross. Dare we not underestimate that cost.

The humbling part of this is we couldn’t pay it even if we wanted to. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In case we missed that, another passage affirms this truth: “…our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purity for himself a people that are his very own…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 2:13,14, 3:5).

So the next time someone offers you something free – a lunch, a vacation trip, a college education, health care…or eternal life – remember: Nothing is free. Someone must cover the cost. It just might not be you or me. 

Freedom Found in the Most Unusual Places

When you hear the word “freedom,” what comes to mind? Some people would say it means you can do whatever you want. Others might envision a bird soaring on high, free to fly wherever it chooses to go. For centuries, freedom has been one of the hallmarks of the United States, although there seems to be a push in some quarters to redefine what that means.

When I think of freedom, an image emerges that I’ve often seen while driving on the interstate through Kentucky: A thoroughbred horse cavorting in a sprawling meadow, at liberty to run as fast as it wants to within the confines of the pasture fencing. It’s free, but not so free that it can run onto the nearby interstate highway, putting itself and drivers passing by at risk.

One reason I’ve been thinking about this is because of a segment I caught recently on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” It was about a highly successful prison reform program; I tuned in late, so I didn’t get the name of the initiative or where the prison was located. But a comment from one of the prisoners, serving a lifetime sentence, stuck with me.

Not all prisoners are behind bars.

This inmate had begun mentoring other prisoners, teaching them how to make positive changes in their lives, anticipating their day of release from incarceration. The interviewer asked the lifer what he gets out of investing in fellow prisoners, since he has no hope of becoming freed from prison himself.

His response was simple: “Redemption. I don’t want to die a waste.”

It’s interesting that someone many of us would regard as the least free of all people would essentially being saying that this program has given him the freedom to find meaning in life. Describing himself as having “a Ph.D. in wrong choices,” the inmate saw his involvement in mentoring as giving him the freedom to make a difference in the world, even from behind bars.

The portion of the segment I saw made no mention of a Christian or biblical basis for this approach, which was dramatically reducing recidivism among ex-offenders that have been released. But I suspect there had to be a spiritual element to it. How often have you heard the word “redemption” used in connection with someone imprisoned? 

Can it be that, like the thoroughbred horse given great freedom within safe boundaries, it’s possible to find freedom even in prison? Certainly Jesus Christ promised that. He said to those sincerely seeking to know eternal truth,“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Even within prison walls, beyond any expectation of ever venturing outside them, this inmate was experiencing freedom.

Perhaps, through Christ, he had been freed of the burden of sin and its guilt, exchanging it for blessed, eternal forgiveness. He was free to discover the joys of Jesus’ promise, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). After a lifetime of making wrong, self-centered decisions that led to his conviction and imprisonment, the inmate had become free to give, to invest himself, in others. And he was freed to start building a lasting, positive legacy despite the confines that restricted his physical movement.

It's interesting that some who have never seen the inside of a prison can actually be less free than this fellow. They might be held captives by the shackles of sins they can’t seem to overcome. Maybe they find themselves enslaved to cancerous emotions of bitterness and unforgiveness. Perhaps they’re bound by the consequences of ill-advised decisions that have dashed cherished dreams.

But the Scriptures offer us the assurance that no matter who we are, no matter where we happen to go, freedom can be ours through Jesus Christ. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

Are you free? Or are you – or someone you know – being held captive, enslaved, by feelings or circumstances that keep you from becoming the person God has intended for you to be all along? Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36). Do you believe that? And are you willing to act accordingly?

Is It Time to Reconsider ‘Freedom’?

Who doesn’t like “free,” right? Maybe a free item when you purchase one like it – buy one, get one free. Maybe a free stay at some resort hotel, the only caveat being that you endure a very persuasive sales presentation. Or maybe a free lunch, free education, or free health insurance. There’s a lot to like about “free.”

So it’s appropriate on this Independence Day to pause and consider what the whole notion of “freedom” is all about. We’re celebrating the virtues of equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and other “unalienable Rights.” The Constitution’s Bill of Rights consists of amendments written to protect many of these rights, including freedom of religious expression, free speech, freedom of the press, freedom to bear arms, and others.

These days, however, it seems the very concepts of freedom and liberty are under attack, being redefined by political and social agendas. The Constitution itself has come under fire by segments of society set on reshaping its meaning to accomplish their ends.

What does it truly mean to be “free”? When talking about liberty and freedom, how are we to understand these terms? What are the parameters, limits and boundaries within which we must exercise our freedoms? Is it time to reconsider, to revisit these questions?

It would seem interpretation of these freedoms – separated from what the Declaration calls “their Creator” – is subject to the whims, wiles and winds of ever-changing social mores. Even how our revered Supreme Court defines them depends on its current liberal-conservative makeup. Rather than serving as a constant, a standard and guide for “We the People of the United States” in our quest “a more perfect Union” and to “insure domestic Tranquility,” our Constitution and what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote it has become a moving target.

I’ve always appreciated a very simple definition of freedom as “being free to do as we ought, rather than doing whatever we want.” The freedom to drive on the highway, for example, should also involve the constraint to drive at a reasonable speed, pay attention to what’s happening on the road, obey traffic signals, and show courtesy to other motorists.

The absolute authority on freedom, in my view, is what God has revealed in the Bible. It started in Genesis, when He told Adam and Eve, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden (of Eden), but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17). From the get-go, God gave the first couple considerable latitude in their choices of food, with a single exception. But they decided that wasn’t enough freedom. They proceeded to exceed the limits of the freedom they had been given, and we’ve been pushing those boundaries ever since.

God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, as well as all succeeding members of His eternal family, to instruct in how to have healthy, growing relationships with Him and everyone we meet from day to day. His intent wasn’t to be restrictive, but rather to provide a means for insuring what He might have termed “domestic tranquility.”

Commandments like “you shall not murder,” “you shall not steal,” “you shall not lie,” and “you shall not covet your neighbor’s possessions” (Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21) don’t seem unduly harsh, do they? Especially in light of Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:33). However, many still find the commandments offensive. Especially ones that insist that we have no other gods before the one true God, should not worship idols, or “misuse the name of the Lord your God.” And for some, “do not commit adultery” is particularly problematic.

But without question, the Bible offers a plan for experiencing genuine freedom and liberty, a way to “be all that you can be,” as the U.S. Army marketing slogan used to promise years ago.

The apostle Paul wrote, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). What did he mean by “a yoke of slavery”? Paul explained that in another of his New Testament letters:

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life…. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:13-22).

In the gospel of John, Jesus made another clear assertion about freedom – freedom that’s not affected by changing philosophies and ideologies. He focused on freedom that can’t be redefined by government, society or political correctness when He declared, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32-36). We can be free to be and to become everything God has called us to be.

So as we celebrate the freedoms we have enjoyed in this nation known as the United States, we ought also to be grateful for the freedom we can have in Christ that spans eternity, transcends traditions, and crosses all gender, racial, ethnic and cultural barriers.