Eschew

"When I want to do good, evil's right beside me," Romans 7:21.

Absolute freedom. Complete autonomy. Free to will. Obliged to none. When I grow up I will do what I want to do and nobody will boss me. Fantasy. Mirage. Illusion. Trick mirrors. The universe into which we grow up itself has no freedom. It does what it's designed to do. Whatever its rules, the cosmos follows them. We watch the world, notice its regularities, and figure out what makes it tick. We call it the laws of physics. Rockets do not defy physics - when they rise they obey the physics laws to do what they do. When they crash they still follow the physics laws. But human beings have more freedom: We get to choose our master. And then, as designed, we follow our master's laws. Either slaves of sin (it drives us to death) or of God (he leads us to good life). The effective default is to sin. God says choose the good life. It's a whole lot better. And a lot longer.

Connecting with a brother or sister today, we talk of our master's love, we speak service for each other, we eschew sin. And, together, we give thanks for God's election.