Finding balance between liberty and security

There is a tension between liberty and security, between our freedom and our safety. Of course, we would all prefer, and choose if we could, to have both complete liberty and complete security. However, that is not the world we live in.

For example, we desire for others to not steal our possessions, so we secure them, with locks or cases. But in order to secure those possessions with a lock or in a case, we give up a little bit of our freedom to have easier access to those possessions. Most of the time we weigh the cost of the freedom that we give up with the amount of security we gain. And we do this, often, without even thinking about it. We normally don’t bother to secure the minor possessions of little value that we own, but more expensive possessions such as homes, vehicles, and firearms we normally do secure.

This plays out on a larger scale as well. Gated communities make the choice to give up a little bit of the liberty of free access in order to gain the security of controlled access. When traveling by commercial airplanes, we give up the right to carry weapons, and to keep the contents of our luggage private. We give up this liberty in order to gain the security of safer air travel. Controlled borders of property and countries reduce liberty but increase security. So there is a tension that must be evaluated anytime a decision must be made whether or not to try to increase the safety of some person, thing, or entity.

How much freedom are we willing to give up in order to feel safe? I won’t pretend to have the answer to that, particularly since the answer varies from individual to individual, community to community, and nation to nation. It terms of societies and governments, it seems like we slowly but continually tend to allow our freedoms to be eroded in the name of safety. But I do want to tell you that the best way to answer that question is to look to God for the source of both our liberty and our security.

In John 8:34-36, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” True liberty comes from being spiritually free from the guilt and bondage of sin, which then allows us to experience true freedom regardless of our circumstances.

And in Luke 12:22-28, Jesus tells us how to enjoy true security, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”

So the real balance between liberty and security is found in depending on God and His forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ our Savior.