Physical Freedom

Frisky and I go jogging almost every morning and each day we pass by a house with the garage door half open.  Inside you can see a man sitting in his lawn chair smoking a cigarette.  He seems to be a rather nice fellow and shouts out his greeting unreservedly.  But what strikes me is that he never moves from there.  He is a little over weight and clearly under exercised.  A little fresh air would do him some good but I don't get the impression that he has the energy to get out.  I never see him outside.  He just sits there for long periods of time looking out the half open door and smokes.

So as I pass him every day I get to thinking about freedom.  Not the political kind, the physical kind.  This man is free to do whatever he wants but the state of his health will not permit it.  So I ask myself, who of the two of us are really free?  I am free to go out and run 3-5 miles whenever I like.  He, like many others, can only dream of running even around the block.  Who, I ask again, is really free physically?

Forgive me if you do not agree with my opinion but I do not feel that it is God's plan for humanity to smoke.  I have taken a lot of flack as a minister for taking such a hard line stance on tobacco.  Admittedly it is fairly hard line.  "A Christian," they say, "should be free to choose whether they will smoke or not."  And they are.  But am I being unkind in urging others to be free of those things that enslave them?  We all know tobacco will squeeze the life out of you once it has you in it's grasp.  But it also won't let you out of it's grasp either.  So I return to my question yet again.  Who is really free?  He who can go out and enjoy the out of doors as he pleases, or he who is stuck in his smoking chair?

John 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."