Freedom is probably the most expensive thing we have in our life but at the same time it is the most misunderstood thing in our life. It was given to us out of love but it can only work following love. Actually I can say that it is a blessing and a curse depending on how we use it.
Many people look at it as being free from something but others look at is as being free to do something. In both cases, if we go to the extreme we will not have freedom at all.
God gave us freedom based on an invitation to a dialogue. But here is the catch. Dialogue requires interaction from both sides. It is not forcing but inviting the truth into the relationship between God and a person. Unfortunately, when we reject this truth, as humans we are falling into the prison that gives the impression of freedom but actually puts a person into a prison. One has the freedom to take drugs for the first time but at the same time this drug is taking their freedom away and next time it will be the drug taking over the person. It is always interesting to talk to the addicts that proclaim to be free but cannot stop their addiction.
The same rule applies to everything else. Someone has the freedom to reject God, but it is so hard to accept Him again because there is no freedom anymore. It was replaced by rejecting God that comes from hating Him.
Here is a very important difference that has been forgotten: sin makes a person captured, virtue makes a person free. If we look at the country from this perspective we can see clearly that the more virtuous and loving the people are then the freer are the people living in it. Hard work, care, healthy ambitions, mercy and many other virtues give prosperity. Laziness, demanding, misusing of others, entitlement and many others make a person a prisoner and at the same time destroy any country.
Of course what I am saying is nothing new. We can find it in the Bible. The wisdom of God from the very beginning taught us to avoid all vices to keep our freedom.