In early morning I saw a bird fly to the very top of a tall tree. He was so magnificent. Flew straight to the very tip top branch, and landed there high above the ground. His silhouette was grand against the pale blue sky. Just the outline of the tree, and sitting above it, the bird filled the sky.
And I thought, how gloriously free he flew to his perch. No doubt, no confusion. To him, he was king of his world. He wasn't fettered and bound by wondering what other birds would think of him. He knew total freedom. To know any sort of bondage would be so foreign to him that he would kill himself trying to break loose from anything that would bind him.

Total freedom? What's that? It is the liberty to do what seems good to you. The liberty to satisfy the desires God puts in your heart just as that bird.

The bird is bound by gravity and all the laws of nature, just as man and every other creature. But he has no self-imposed artificial chains. He has not fettered himself with any of the common chains man forges for himself.

He is not intimidated by the opinion of other birds. There was no thought in his head of, 'What will the other birds think of me if I fly to the top of this tree? Will they think I'm being too self-important? Will they think I'm trying to show off, or how important I feel?'

How many men spend their lives wondering what others will think of them for what they do? If they do this or that will someone else take it wrong? O what torment it brings to live in the fear of man's opinion. What chains of iron we forge when first we fear the opinion of man.

So how do we judge our selves? How should we consider our own actions? Surely there must be some standard of life by which we can guide our lives. And there is. But you don't have to look to the committee of "other people's opinions" to judge your actions.

Other Peoples Opinions will never satisfy you unless you submit and become their total slave whose only pleasure is pleasing people. Then you will walk all the days of your life in chains of "Other Peoples Opinion", never knowing for yourself what your own opinion is.

How terrible a life to live just to please man! Break free from the fetters of "Other Peoples Opinions"! How, you ask? By the liberty of God. Live for God, not man. Live for God, not even for yourself. Living for yourself is too self-centered. Living for yourself is too narrow a perspective to ever be able to judge the universe and yourself in it. Not other people's opinions and not your opinions, but what does God think about it, that's what counts.

Like a ship at sea you must have external references to know where you are and to learn which direction to go. So if you only live in your own bubble of personal desires and personal values, you have no external frame of reference by which to judge. What would happen to that ship if it wrapped a wall around itself, using no external references to find its way? Why it would not know where it was going, and when it got somewhere by bumping into land, it wouldn't know where it was.

A wise captain uses the sextant to find where he is. He plots his course by longitude and latitude according to the stars. He uses a frame of reference that is far removed from himself. By such distant authorities he judges his position. He doesn't ask his crew where he is, and he doesn't judge by the seat of his pants which ocean he's in. In short, he looks not to his own opinion neither the opinion of others for his guidance. But rather he looks to that which is totally free from influence for his guidance.

You have a source of guidance which is more free from the affairs of men than even the stars. God is above all. God is the ultimate source of all good guidance. Look to God for your guidance.

You might ask, "How do I look to God for my guidance?" The answer is found when you consider these words: "If any man would draw near to God, he must believe that God exists and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

God will lead the thoughts of your heart as you seek Him. He guides and directs the steps of a man who is reaching out for Him with a pure heart.

Seek the Lord with all your heart, and He will be found of you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Then trust Him to do what He said. Trust Him to keep you on the right path for your life together with Him.

Let God be your guide, and let God be your judge. Then you will never have to fear what man thinks. You will not have the intolerable experience of having to please that terrible committee of "Other Peoples Opinions". The committee of Other People will never have a consensus of One. You can never please all the other people. You can please the One True Living God.

He alone gives you liberty and power to find the fullest blessings for your life. Just as He gives the birds the life they live so well. Like the eagle that soars above the storms on wings so grand, and dives to its prey without fear or doubt. Succeeding in taking what it wants because it wants the things that are right for an eagle.

The eagle does what God puts in its heart. The eagle succeeds. The lion likewise. And all the animals of creation live so grand. They follow what is in their heart to do. God put those things in their heart.

What about the human heart? Can we trust it? No! The human heart must be purified by faith. Else it is full of corruption and self deceit that would fool even the wisest man. Let him who thinks he is wise become empty of all the things he thinks he knows, and learn of God.

The pride, the games people play, the self-seeking according to our own self-centered standards or the people pleasing according to the committee of "Other Peoples Opinions" will never let us come into focus with God. We must first empty out all those false foundations of how to govern our lives. We must release all the buttons that compel us in this direction and that.

Your hurts and fears while growing up formed automatic response mechanisms in your heart and mind. Prides and successes formed self-serving goals to increase what you want. But what you want is like that ship at sea trying to guide itself by its own self-enclosed bubble of references. You must go outside yourself for a valid frame of reference. God is the highest reference for you.

Give Him all your personal desires, your hurts and fears, your pride and self-pleasing goals. Ask Him to be your light and your path. Jesus is the True Light from God sent to every man who will believe. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.
He will set you free from the chains that bind and give you perfect liberty. Like the birds of the air, and the flowers of the field, you will experience a wonderful life of power and beauty as you live by God's pattern instead of your own pattern for life.

Why does one have to come to Christ for such freedom? Because men are born with a fallen spirit. They cannot know God for their first great great... great grandfather rebelled against God. Adam, the first man chose of his own free will to go against God. Consequently his spirit died to God and became alive to sin. He was no longer able to know God. He had chosen sin instead of God. You inherited that same fallen spirit from Adam when you were born.
That's why Jesus Christ said, "You must be born again." When you are born again, you receive a replacement Spirit from God. He gives you a new spirit. He replaces the one you had with a Spirit straight from Him so you can know Him and know that you know. His Spirit bears witness in our heart that we are a child of God.

Please take note that this kind of total freedom is within the limits of God's divine plan. If you begin seeking your own freedom with only the limits of your imagination, with no external source to guide you, then confusion and despair takes effect.
The philosophers who tell you to go by your own heart without reference to God will lead you down a long winding rode. For example the book "From Death Camp to Existentialism" could lead a man to believe his own self is the only reason to exist. Some students who read philosophers get bogged down in self-seeking and self-esteem and self-fulfillment. The goal God sets for us is to seek His high calling for your life. His calling and plan is fixed. But if you try to follow your own imaginations, you could wander forever and never find the truth. God's word is truth. You can count on Him.

When you come to count on God then His word will show you the way for your life by His Spirit. The Spirit of God will lead you into all truth. How much better to learn from Almighty All Knowing God than from any philosopher among men. King David said, "I understand more than all my teachers for Your Word O LORD is my meditation all the day."

Please trust in God's Spirit to teach you His word. It is a trap and a snare to follow philosophers. Only by God can the total liberty come to you. Only His plan and love can set your life totally free from the chains that bind. The chains that bind come from trying to live by the opinions of men. God's opinion is what counts. God's opinion is solid rock so you can build your life upon a firm foundation.

God's word gives you His liberty and freedom. Turn your soul to God's word. Seek out the book of the Lord, and read. Treasure up His word in your heart more than silver and gold. If your current understandings are based on thoughts and ideas of men, forget what you know, and learn from God a new foundation for your life based on His eternal truth. The Word of God is Truth. The Word of God shows you the WAY to find your LIFE.

They that wait upon the Lord shall rise up on wings as eagles. They shall see what others can't see and understand the melody of life with all its parts. Those who seek God shall find His liberty.

Click the BACK button on your browser or select from menu below