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Am I a liberated woman? If indeed the question was “Are you a feminist?” my answer to that would be “no.” While I can agree with some of their objectives, pertaining to equal opportunity for women, and while I’ve personally benefited from those opportunities, there is much about their organized movement that I find anti-biblical. I stand in strong opposition to their support for abortion. I believe many of their objectives are destructive to our family units, so I am not a part of the feminist movement in our country.
However, I must add that I do not go to the other extreme of this position, which holds that Christian women should never work outside their homes, never hold positions of leadership in the church, never speak or teach God’s truth. I simply don’t believe Scripture teaches that women are second-class citizens in any way, and I see many examples of gifted women in the Bible who were mightily used by God in many unique ways.
But back to our original question: Am I a liberated woman? Indeed I am! I’m liberated, set free, because I’ve been set free by Jesus Christ. Feminism does not offer me that freedom, no organization can offer me that. No job can offer me that. No other person can offer me that. But Jesus has set me free.
Freedom is a natural human desire. All of us are born with that longing to be free to choose for ourselves, free to pursue our own interests, free to live our lives as we please. And we value our freedom highly. But you just can’t find true freedom anywhere except through Jesus Christ. And that’s because Jesus is the only one who can set us free from our sins.
What does that mean—to be set free from sin? Well, the Bible tells us that we are slaves to whatever masters us. And as I look around me, I see many people who are mastered by their sinful natures. They are not free. They think they are, because they’re doing what they want to do. But when you look a little closer, you see that they are slaves to their own sinful desires.
Paul wrote the Romans:
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have becomes slaves to righteousness…But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:16-22).
Hallelujah! I’m a liberated woman, because I’m free from the curse and penalty of sin. Many people are looking for freedom today; in fact, Americans are obsessed with personal freedom. It is our single remaining national ethic to which we seem to be willing to sacrifice all other morality. As long as it’s in the name of personal freedom, it must be right!
But as individuals we are each slaves—slaves to whatever masters us. What is mastering you today? Money? Pleasure? Sex? Laziness? Food? Television? Trashy novels? Pornography? Drugs? Alcohol? Cigarettes? Work? Well, Jesus Christ offers liberation from these and anything else that makes us into slaves and robs us of freedom. It’s very interesting to note that in our consuming drive for freedom, very few are truly free, because they are slaves to sin. I want you to know, I’m a liberated woman—free from being a slave to sin.
And because of that, I’m free from guilt. God has forgiven me for every sin that I’ve confessed to him, and furthermore, he remembers those sins against me no more. He doesn’t hang them over my head ever again; I am no longer condemned. So, even though my past is not what it should be, I don’t live under a cloud of guilt as so many people do. I’m free from guilt. I’m a liberated woman.
I’m a liberated woman because God has told me in his word that he shows no favoritism toward any person. The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that we are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).
We know from Genesis that God created mankind in his own image, both male and female. That clearly says that being a female is as much in the image of God as being a male. I’m an equal in God’s sight; equally a sinner, equally eligible for his salvation, equally qualified to serve God with my life and glorify him in everything I do, equally gifted to share with others and minister to others. God is no respecter of persons. I’m free from that stigma; any man-made restrictions or limitations do not concern me.
You know, when the CEO of any organization makes a policy, then you can disregard what the underlings may try to do that is in disagreement with the head person’s policy. And when God has declared us women as equal in his sight, as he has done, and since we are created in his image, then we don’t have to worry about what anyone else says or how they may choose to distort God’s policy statement. There’s no need to march or carry flags or get upset about the attitudes of the underlings! The Creator of all the Universe has declared us equal; we’re free. Free to be his servant; free to relinquish our rights to him.
And speaking of rights, since our society is so preoccupied with human rights, let me tell you about some of the rights I have because I am a child of God. I have the right to enter into the presence of the living God whenever I please, and he accepts me and receives me with glad and open arms. He knows my name, he has numbered the hairs on my head, he is intimately acquainted with all my ways. And no one can prevent me from having continual fellowship with him. I don’t have to perform any rituals, nor do I have to be in a specific place at a set time. No longer do I need an earthly mediator between me and God, because Jesus is my mediator and his sacrifice on Calvary has made it possible for me to approach God directly. It’s my right!
I have the right to be seated with Jesus in heavenly places, to be called a child of God, to call Jesus my brother, to call heaven my home. I have a right to have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within my very body, guiding me and leading me day by day. Because of my relationship to Jesus, I am an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus.
Talk about rights! Though true Christians are a minority group, there’s no group in all the world with more wonderful, eternal rights than we have, whether male or female. If we spend our time and energy focusing on these rights we have as women of God, whatever other small injustices or loss of earthly rights we may be experiencing will seem pretty inconsequential.
Yes, indeed, there’s no question about it: I am a liberated woman. But not because I can now hold any job I’m qualified for. Not because I can stand up and make my voice heard. Not because the government has enacted legislation to protect my rights. I am liberated because Jesus has set me free from the penalty of sin and death; free to be enslaved to righteousness, to be his servant, and to know joy and peace because he is my master.
Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36). The Son has set me free and I have a permanent place in the family of God. I am free indeed.
How about you? Have you been caught up into this world’s pursuit of freedom and liberty? Do you find yourself fighting for rights that you feel are being denied to you? Are you sensing that you’re not really free to be what you want to be?
Maybe you’re discovering that the freedoms you’ve gained and now enjoy are empty. That the happiness you thought was waiting for you once you got that upper-mobile job has eluded you. Many people think freedom comes when they’re liberated from the need to work. They’re praying to win the lottery or somehow come into large amounts of money so they don’t have to work anymore; then they think they’ll be free. Some women think that if they could marry someone who would support them, they’d be free, or if their husbands made more money so they didn’t have to work, they’d be free.
The desires that control your thoughts and your life are the things to which you are a slave. And in your search for freedom, you will discover that instead of finding freedom, your desires, filled or unfulfilled, are your master, and you’re not free.
May I recommend to you the one Master who offers freedom. Jesus said only he can set us free indeed. If Jesus Christ controls your life and your thoughts, then you are his slave. But the amazing paradox is that by becoming his slave, you become free, truly liberated.
I invite you to taste of true freedom. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, please go to God’s word and read the book of John today. You’ll discover what that means and how to do it right there in the Bible. And I will certainly be glad to send you help and information on how to know that you are a child of God and your sins have been forgiven.
If you are a Christian already, perhaps you’re missing out on the freedom of Jesus because you’re holding back on him, refusing to allow him to control your life in some area. When you do that, you become a slave to that thing that you’re refusing to relinquish to God. In refusing to give up your freedom, you become a slave again. In turning it back to God, you will again know that marvelous freedom which only comes through Jesus Christ.
Are you a liberated woman? Are you a liberated man? You can be, right now. The choice is yours.