There was a small river which flowed several hundred meters from my village. Famers had opened up some paddy fields and fishponds on the sides of the river to take advantage of the water for agriculture. The river was also a good place for the villagers to relax. I used to go to the sandy beach along the river to play with my friends on hot summer days. Those happy times gave me not only lots of beautiful memories, but also some lessons.

On a summer morning when I was only ten years old, my friends and I got everything ready to go to the river. Seeing the beautiful view of the country was a good way to enjoy ourselves after the hard days of studying and farming. The sun was shining on the green willows and the wind blew gently causing ripples on the surface of the water. My friends and I sat on the river bank watching the farmers and water buffalos working in the paddy fields. Some dragonflies were dancing on the water and sometimes they landed on blades of grass, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Everything was beautiful and made all of us very happy.

My favorite animals in the river were frogs. They looked really funny and lived a special life style. We could always see the tadpoles with two legs swimming around the water channels looking for their mother. The bigger ones with four legs could climb up on the beach to get rid of their black tails. The grown frogs were green and plump, and they were always busy helping the farmers wipe out the harmful insects in the rice fields. After watching the frogs for some time, one of my friends suggested that we catch some and keep them in our fish tanks. We all agreed with him, and we thought that we were doing them a favor by letting them live in new clean tanks and have a rest from their hard work. We caught many frogs that day, and we brought them to our village in our straw hats.

We kept the green frogs in the fish tanks filled with water and sand. We also killed lots of insects in the corn fields and brought them to the frogs for their dinner. The frogs were free to swim in the water and relax on the sand. We thought they were living great lives with lots of food and fun. But, as time went by, the frogs became thinner and thinner without eating and drinking, and their bodies couldn’t move. Some of them even died and just floated on the water. We were so sad because we knew we had to send the rest back to the river, and return them to their familiar world. I felt sorry about ruining the lives of many frogs, but realized that I should never catch the frogs and change their everyday lives.

After that day, I never kept wild creatures at my home. I came to realize that every animal lives in its own habitat with its own life-style. Regarding humans, it is important that we respect the personal lives of others. It is a virtue to respect other people’s manners, and we should never force others to live in a way that we would prefer. So I say, “Free the Frogs,” and while you are at it, set the humans free as well!” (Note: As you might have guessed, this student was a PhD candidate in his chosen field of biology).

Additional Comments – As the 4^th of July is just around the corner, it’s good for us to pause and reflect upon the freedoms that we all enjoy. They were recorded in what we know as the “Bill of Rights,” and our Founding Fathers wanted to make sure that they were guaranteed to every American citizen. As we see other countries around the world struggling with human rights abuses, we should all pause to “give thanks” for what God has given us here in America.

At the same time, we need to realize that personal “human freedom” is only part of the story, and it’s not the most important part, which is “spiritual freedom.” Jesus had a lot to say about “spiritual freedom, and in fact, He once had an encounter with some religious leaders who claimed that they had never been slaves to anyone. Their pride blinded their eyes, not only to the fact that they were once slaves in Egypt, but also to the fact that they were held captive by the power of sin.

Jesus told them plainly, “…everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34). In other words, if we continually reject God and keep him out of the “equation” of our lives, then we are, as Jesus said, “slaves of sin.” Simply put, we are held captive by the power of sin, just like the frogs that my student kept in the fish tank. Even the Apostle Paul recognized that before Christ set him free, he was constantly “…doing what he did not want to do, and not doing what he really wanted to do.” He recognized that it was the power of sin in his “old nature” that prevented him from experiencing the good things that God had for him. He later discovered that only Christ could set him free from the “death grip” of sin that held him so tightly (See Romans 7:14-25). 

And that’s why Jesus told His disciples, “If you know and respond to the truth, it will set you free” (John 8:31-32). And Jesus went on to say, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Jesus breaks the chains of our bondage and sets us free from both the penalty and power of sin. The penalty of sin is separation from God both in this life and in the next, and the power of sin is what controls our attitudes and actions each and every day.   

Sin is a problem for every human being, and Christ came to set us free from its penalty and power. How does He do that? First, He offers forgiveness for our sins. On Jesus’ last night with His disciples before His crucifixion, Jesus took a cup of wine and said, “The is the blood of the New Covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 22:20). The next day, “God demonstrated His love toward us, even though we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Secondly, once sins are forgiven, He fills us with His LIFE, which only He can give. Jesus possessed that “LIFE” when He came into the world (John 1:4), and He offers His “LIFE” to all who desire it. And John, one of Jesus’ disciples, said, “If you have the Son, you have LIFE, but if you don’t have the Son, you don’t have LIFE” (1 John 5:12). Simply put, if you don’t have the Son, you don’t have LIFE. Every one of us needs Jesus, the Son of God, to give us His LIFE.

I pray that this holiday season you will experience the true freedom that only Jesus can give. He is the only One who can set us free from the penalty and power of sin. If you have never experienced such freedom, just acknowledge that He died for your sins, and then ask Him to forgive you and grant you His “LIFE.” Now that’s real  freedom and cause for true celebration.