Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
To simplify: Don’t give up your freedom for security.
It’s something we must all consider, especially as we contemplate the pandemic, including what liberties we may be giving up, under the guise of presumed protection.
Freedom to gather for worship. To speak our deepest convictions. Freedoms protected by the First Amendment. The freedoms that make America different and exceptional.
Or, said another way: What future, longer-lasting harm may we be inviting into our lives, in exchange for temporary - yet unguaranteed - security. Especially an unproven security, which may eventually lead to more harm than good.
That’s what Franklin understood, and was trying to point out to his fellow man. Once liberties have been taken away from us by the government, it is very, very difficult to get them back.
Our freedom in Christ is guaranteed: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. No longer to be under the yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). And it’s our job to protect it.
So let’s continue to live free from the yoke of slavery. Slavery to fear, and to the wavering and mutable promises of this world.
It’s our choice to make.
Please heed this warning: Don’t give up your freedom for security.
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