The Meaning of Liberty

I don't, as a rule, do two posts for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain in a month. And, technically, this isn't a part of the blog chain for July...

However, someone made a suggestion to me, and it was hard to resist.

You see, if you're new to Word Wanderings, my name is Liberty. It's kind of a strange name (although, I've learned my daughter's name is even less common. However, my name only gained significantly more popularity than hers after 2001.)

Upon learning of my name, I've gotten a variety of responses. As a young girl, I'd be called "Liberty Bell" or "Statue of Liberty" on the playground. I hated it, and still do to this day, although I will use both to illustrate how my name is spelled if someone's confused.

I also get questioned as to whether my parents were hippies (which is the funniest response I've ever received) and whether I was born on the 4th of July. Nope, I share a birthday with Elton John, Dannika Patrick, and Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell. The last one, I'm happiest about.

Most people hear "Liberty" and think "Freedom" or "America" or "weirdo." (I may be making that last one up. That's only because they don't know how idiosyncratic I am!)

No, my name was given to me by my parents because of the Scripture verse 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, in the New American Standard Bible: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."

I always just thought it was a cool place for my name to come from. But, in recent days, I've been thinking about the verse some, especially in light of an online seminar I watched last week with Dave Ramsey about personal freedom and having an economic recovery. A lot of what he talked about wasn't just monetary, but spiritual as well.

Which goes back to my namesake verse.

There is an incredible freedom that comes from knowing Christ. That's what this verse talks about, that by knowing Christ, knowing His Spirit, you're free.

It's a different kind of freedom than one we normally celebrate every July 4th, or other days if you live in other regions of the world. It's one where we're free from the guilt of our past wrongdoings. We're free from burdens. The Spirit is there to take those from us, to make our paths as easy as possible. We're not guaranteed a life free from strife or trouble, but we can get through those trials easier when we have liberty in Christ.

I'm no theologian, and I don't pretend to be. But, this passage has become much more meaningful in recent weeks, especially as I observe the despondency in our country.

What kind of impact would be made on said despondency here and abroad if more of our people would turn to God instead of "almighty" government? What do you think that country and its citizens would look like?

Until next time,

Liberty