NIV 365-Day Devotional Plan (2017)Sample

The Freedom of Obedience

My brother-in-law, Jack, spent a year as an officer in the Air Force. He was stationed on a base near Bangkok during the Vietnam War. He was married to my sister, Diane, and she was already pregnant with their first child when he was shipped out. Tammelyn was born a month after he began his tour of duty.

Jack did not see Tammelyn or Diane for an entire year. He, too, faced the temptation of having absolute moral freedom while he was overseas. But he decided to remain faithful to my sister. He gave up his freedom, in other words, for something more valuable to him . . .

I was there at the airport when Jack returned after his year away. I witnessed their glorious reunion, as if I was eavesdropping on a miracle. That moment will remain forever imprinted on my memory. Jack stepped off that plane, embraced my sister, and cradled his baby daughter for the first time. They were delirious with joy. Diane and Jack went on to build a good life together . . .

I still think about Jack’s year in Southeast Asia. I reflect on what it must have been like for him to say “no” to temptation, to give up the extraordinary freedom he had there, and to remain true to his wife and baby daughter . . . He had one kind of freedom, the freedom to live an unrestrained life, to “go where you want to go, do what you want to do, live how you want to live,” as the advertisement for “Freedom” reads.

But he gave up that freedom. He chose another kind of freedom, the freedom of obedience. I have observed with respect and appreciation what that freedom has produced in their lives, in their family, and in their community. That is the kind of freedom I wish for my life and my family. It is the freedom of living a life for God, of following God’s will. The one pathway we must follow may limit freedom as culture defines it, but it gives us freedom as the Bible defines it. When we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, we will do the will of God and experience true freedom.

—Gerald Sittser

Taken from NIV Men’s Devotional Bible