Today I read 2 Corinthians 3 and I was really impressed with the second to last verse. Paul states that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now at first glance, this does not always seem to be the case. After all Joseph Smith was in jail many, many times and ironically enough was in a jail named Liberty for six months! However, Paul is not referring to liberty of the body. Rather when we have the Spirit of the Lord with us, we will not feel inclined to sin which frees us from our spiritual bondage.
When Adam partook of the forbidden fruit then it brought two kinds of death into the world, physical death and spiritual death. Physical death was overcome by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and everyone who is ever born will get a physical body again after death. Spiritual death though, is also overcome by the Savior's Atonement, but it is conditional upon us doing our part. We have to obey the commandments of God in order to keep the Spirit about us so that we can be free from sin.
When we keep the commandments of God we little by little become more like Him. We slowly lose any desire that we once had to commit sin. We overcome the natural man. That is what Paul means that when we have the Spirit of the Lord we are free. We could be chained to a wall in the deepest darkest dungeon and if we remained true and faithful to our covenants then we are free. It doesn't matter what happens to our physical body, our spirit will be redeemed and we will be free. There are terrible, horrible absolutely vile things that happen each and every day in this world. I honestly don't know how God can stand to watch them all happen to His children. I think part of it is that no matter how bad things get in this life, it is only temporary. We can be tortured in the most cruel fashion imaginable, but if we hold true to our testimony and do not allow ourselves to be led astray by sin, then we can overcome any obstacle put in our path, even physical death.
If we allow the Atonement into our lives and do what is right always, then we truly will be free. Nothing in this life can stop us from living the commandments of God. It is a choice each of us makes. No one forces us to break the commandments of God. With very few exceptions. And God will not hold us accountable for the actions of others. It is always our choice to live our life how we want to, even in captivity we can stay true to God and His commandments. Choose life, choose to obey God. Until tomorrow.
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