APP: There’s a lot of buzz about freedom today—freedom from things like terrorism, stress, doubt, anxiety, and financial burdens. Gurus and counselors tell us that if we live a certain way, think the right thoughts, or even vote for a particular ideology, we can be free. Freedom is the power to act or speak or think without any restrictions forced on us from the outside. It may be a hard thing to wrap your mind around, but most of us would like to have the choice to do whatever we want. Imagine having the freedom to listen to music as loud as you want, or to have a bank account with an unlimited balance. Or how about being able to eat whatever and as much as you want? I can think of a huge list of things I’d like to do, but most of them only offer temporary freedom.
Real freedom that we all crave isn’t physical; it’s spiritual. The best source of freedom is found in God’s Son. Only Jesus can set us free. Every time I speak in a prison facility, I remind the inmates that they can be freer than people living on the outside, because true freedom is about the condition of one’s heart.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
GALATIANS 5:1 NIV
When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD; he brought me into a spacious place.
PSALM 118:5 NIV
Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
HEBREWS 2:14–15 MSG
Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” Surprised, they said, “But we’re descendants of Abraham. We’ve never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘The truth will free you’?” Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.”
JOHN 8:31–36 MSG