Some people are known while they are alive; others are remembered only after they have already died. This is the case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: he was one of the pastors who fought against the German Nazi regime. His struggle was against the manipulation promoted by Nazism and he did not agree that the German church did not take a position in favor of freedom. That is why he condemned both the churches and the Nazi government. As a Christian, he wanted freedom to preach; That's why I was fighting. Despite pressing on all sides, by people who advised him to remain silent, Bonhoeffer decided to continue preaching. Finally, he was arrested and killed in a concentration camp.
Unfortunately, Bonhoeffer's struggle is not that of many others who call themselves Christians, who do not fight or live in freedom. There are many who have already settled, who simply want to continue living life without many mishaps or changes, who believe that things will never change and that it is better to continue accepting no freedom. However, this is not a characteristic of the true Christian. The Bible presents him as a person free of traditions, fear, the world and sin. If you call yourself a Christian, you need to be free. In I Corinthians 9.19-27 the apostle Paul speaks of it.
See what Paul says in verse 19: "Because, although it is free of all (...)". This is the great affirmation of the apostle Paul: I am free of all in my testimony as a Christian, free from opinions, from impositions, from external pressures. This statement had reason to happen: there was a group there in the Corinthian church that said that no one could have any contact with the unbelievers. This group was very strong, had great influence on the people of the church and was wanting to control the life and the testimony of the people through their opinions and impositions. Currently there are many Christians who are under that same slavery.
There are some who are slaves to the opinions of other people; They are the political believers. They have no personal conviction to act in this or that way, and they do or fail to do things in fear of what others may say. We have as an illustration those who wear long hair because they all say that this is the best position, and condemns those who wear short hair.
There are those who are slaves to the impositions of others; They are the well-off believers. If someone influential said that everyone should act in a way, he simply adjusts, not having the job of investigating what the Bible says about it. He wants to be calm and not be bothered. It is much easier to preach what everyone is preaching, to act as everyone is acting. It is better, for him, to let things happen by themselves.
There are still those who are slaves of external pressures: if there is any pressure, soon change their minds and attitudes. As an example, we can use the figure of someone who is single and can not find a spouse in the church. He soon changes his speech because of that; before he spoke of radical holiness; Today, in front of the people who make the snap of the single, he begins to preach that there is no problem in getting married to a non-believer.
Paul's struggle was against that kind of thinking within the church: a dominant, controlling, manipulative thought that transforms free men into machines, which places everyone in the same "molding" and demands that all act in the same way . Therefore, Paul sees himself and calls others to have him as an example. He affirms that he is free of all people.