Set Free To Serve

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.

1 Corinthians 8:9

At the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the keynote speaker. Only four and a half feet tall, she could barely see over the podium. But when she spoke, the president and other dignitaries heard a stinging rebuke: America had become a selfish nation, losing the meaning of love because of our practice of aborting unborn children.

America, the beacon of freedom for the rest of the world, has at times misapplied the meaning of the word. True freedom and liberty are experienced when we find the courage and power to serve the weak, the immature, the less fortunate than ourselves.

Like Mother Teresa, the apostle Paul had words of rebuke for Christians who cared more about their personal rights and freedoms than the spiritual needs of the less mature. Yes, Christians are free, not bound by rules and regulations. But if we use our freedom to offend another, we have become abusers, not servants. What freedoms have you set aside lately in order to serve someone who needed your strength?

The freest person in the world is the one who makes himself a voluntary servant of others.