We are like a frightened bird before him, shrinking away lest his demand crush us completely. But when we eventually yield—when he corners us and finally takes us into his hand—we find to our astonishment that he is infinitely gentle and that his only aim is to release us from our prison, to set us free to be the people he made us to be. But when we fly out into the sunshine, how can we not then offer the same gentle gift of freedom, of forgiveness, to those around us?

This is part of the paradox of love, in which love freely given creates a context for love to be freely returned, and so on in a cycle where complete freedom and complete union do not cancel each other out but rather celebrate each other and make one another whole.

Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.

What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts,

Let freedom reign.

but conformity to the will and the way of Jesus is life and freedom itself—under his authority.

When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight; you are God's will, and all your commonsense decisions are His will for you.

Jesus demands everything, not just so we would submit to his control, but to free us from the control of things that were never designed to control us.

when Jesus touches me with his rescuing grace, he is freeing me from my bondage to me!

Rebellion never gives life. Self-rule never brings freedom. So grace has worked to rescue me from me, so that I can know the true freedom of serving him.

if threats, manipulation, and guilt could create lasting change in the life of another person, Jesus would not have had to come.

Consider Thomas Jefferson's declaration: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed our only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?