Freedom Ain't Free

If you can gain your freedom, do so. - 1 Corinthians 7:21

Paul’s teaching here upends a lot of his other teaching on slavery. (FYI, we won’t be focusing on that other teaching here.) He’s not writing about ‘spiritual freedom’ or salvation from sin. He’s writing to those in physical bondage - who are bound by socio-economic systems that mean they do not have bodily freedom.

Today there is still plenty of human enslavement and trafficking. Paul’s words speak to those situations directly. And they speak to the plight of millions of people living in America who face the very real implications of being oppressed by systems that value one race over the others and which push the poor to the margins of society. According to Paul, freedom must be fought for. It’s not naturally free.

What might it look like to stand alongside others who find themselves not as free as they could be? What physical, emotional, and financial sacrifices might be necessary to help gain your own freedom or others’ freedom?

Close your time listening to this song, Freedom Ain’t Free, sung over us this last Sunday morning by Árelis Figueroa from The Poor People’s Campaign. HERE she is.