Freedom is being able to do what I want to do. What is it that makes me do what I don't want to do?

I am free only to the degree which I am able to do what I want to do.
"What I do that I don't want to do" and "what I want to do that I don't do" are two components of the imposition limiting or denying my freedom.
It seems obvious that not being able to do what I want to do indicates that I have limited freedom. But what limits my freedom most is doing what I don't want to do. Wrestling with this dilemma, Apostle Paul exclaims, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." (Rom. 7:15).
Below are some of the things people do that they don't want to do.
1.Buy and accumulate stuff.. things that they neither want or enjoy. Yet, with addictive intensity they feel compelled to acquire them. This may include just about anything, from books they buy but never read or diamonds and clothing they seldom or never wear.
2. Participate in activities they don't want to be involved in and may even hate. These may include attending school meetings they dislike, traveling places they don't want to go and attending church where they return home more depressed than when they left home.
3. Withhold, withdraw, and hide to avoid facing issues, people and danger they cannot escape no matter how hard they try.
4. Manipulate people by feigning self-pity, playing weak and engaging in other games aimed at deceiving them.
5. Pledge allegiance and loyalty to people, ideologies and causes they do not believe in and are against.
The best way to cease doing those things you don't want to do is to love yourself. Love is the greatest power in the uiverse. It is mighty to transform. Low self-esteem and self-hatred are prime enforcers that drive a person to do the things that he doesn't want to do. Loving oneself propels freedom because it is the epitome of freedom. A greater truth than "Be free and do what you want to do" is "Do what you want to do and be free." The more you do what you want to do the freer you become. Ask yourself, am I doing what I want to do?
When I am not doing what I want to do I am doing what someone else or some other force wants me to do. Who or what could that be? You have the answer.

Copyright 2006 by Uriah J. Fields