Free!

John 8:32
Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. (NIV)

'The Truth shall set you free!!' A simple yet profound statement. It's one of those scriptures you know well. You've heard it so many times, preached from so many mouths, it rattles in your brain and seems to assimilate itself into the ABC's of what you believe. You know it, you can rhyme it off chapter and verse. These kinds of well known truths are deep in your heart, mind and spirit. They are even quoted on TV and are popular 'ditties' in culture. 'The truth shall make you free!' (loud cheering from Oprah's audience in the background … )
 
It's the commonness of the small 't' kind of 'truth' that removes the real meaning from this verse. The high impact Truth I'm digging deeper into here begins with a capital 'T' … it's a name. And His name is Jesus – and he is Truth. Say that familiar verse again with the understanding of WHO the 'Truth' is referring to ('Then you will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will set you free') and the statement takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

'So if the TRUTH shall makes me free' you ask (I ask) … 'then how come we often don't feel 'free'?' Simple answer: life comes with its 2 x 4s, its 'curses' and 'blessings', its thorns in the flesh and it's 10 foot walls we constantly hit and our stubbornness seems to never learn to avoid. The impact of these can be devastating to how 'free' we feel. (Feeling being a non-constant state and not to be trusted completely). So why don't we 'feel' free ...

Sin is probably the obvious reason here (always seems to be in the mix somehow?!) – though not necessarily 'obvious sin'. Sometimes it's the stuff we STUFF and try to avoid dealing with that takes away our freedom. Bad judgment, poor choices, anger (at others, ourselves - or at God), resentment, fear, insecurities, and disbelief. The definition of sin, the bible says is 'anything that doesn't please God' - you add your own idea here: ___ ).

Freedom-less-ness can't always be seen from the outside in. We can hide it quite effectively behind our well trained (small 'c') christian persona's. You know, the ones we pull out of our pockets and purses entering the doors of the sanctuary just after we've screamed at our kids in the car on the way to church! It's a pretty common practice, and not much of a secret since most of us are guilty of it. Maybe we've failed as a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, in our own estimation of who we should be, in our response to who God is to us. At some point, most, if not all of us, find ourselves chained by such things. Wondering how we got here, feeling far from God and needing more than anything - to be FREE.

So what is the response to the chains (or results) of sin (obvious or otherwise)? Going back to the scripture above … 'You shall KNOW the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free!'. What was that word again? You shall KNOW the truth … KNOW ... the Truth …. If He's the Truth, don't we KNOW him? We think we do? Don't we know his character, his faithfulness, his compassion, his willingness to forgive, his healing, his joy, his patience, his trustworthiness, is all-knowingness, his all-abundance and grace?

Sometimes I wonder - what exactly do I know? I know my situation, sometimes not a 'happy place to be' is not always perfect. But the bible repeatedly reminds me that my situation doesn't change the exact biblical TRUTH of who He is. And so what does this mean for me? That no matter what I do, or chose, or fail at … here is what I should know ...

... He's FAITHFUL when I'm faithless; he's COMPASSIONATE when my heart is hurt and bruised; He's FORGIVING when I can't forgive or forget; he brings HEALING when I'm tired and wounded; he's full of unexplainable JOY when I'm blinded by tears; he's PATIENT when I think he's finished dealing with anymore of my failures; he's TRUTH WORTHY where others have failed; ALL KNOWING of the things that I think I can hide from others, myself and most of all, him; and he is ALL ABUNDANT and full of grace - eager to provide for me as a good father would, when I am lacking in what I need … Freedom ...

So what should I teach myself to know??? Scripture tells me all about who He is ... and as a result I can know I'M FREE --- despite who I am --- despite my circumstances --- I'M FREE. 
Free to move through this life with all it's good and bad, perfect and imperfect … and KNOW that my freedom is not dependent on my performance, or lack of performance … it's dependent on HIM and WHO HE IS. 

Does freedom change my circumstance? Probably not … but in that reality … KNOWING HIM, MAKES ME FREE of its weight. Transformation of who I am comes as I stand in the freedom he gives me, secure in knowing he is immovable and unchangeable in his love for me - where his character more and more becomes my own. In knowing him, being with him, becoming like him, I experience true freedom from the things I would earlier get so easily bogged down by. Borrowing from my first paragraph ... we are 'assimilated' -- into Him (sorry - reference borrowed from Star Trek and the 'Borg' for my Trekkie friends).
 
Having trouble with the simplicity of this? It doesn't make sense to the human mind, does it? We always think on an 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' level ... if we blew it, we should be the ones to pay, right? God always knew our greatest effort to repay would never sufficient - God needed to send Jesus as our payment - final ... finished ... complete .. perfect. Nothing outstanding on our account. We're in the black!! Everything's covered! His pound of flesh for our penalty. Our human minds can't comprehend someone else paying OUR price, our debt. Only faith can. Jesus paid it - in full. 

The challenge is, and all he asks - is to break the chains to our past, to our mistakes, to our bad choices, to our failures ... learn what he needs us to learn from them - maybe encourage others to do the same in the same spirit he does with us ... and be free! And how do we do this? We must choose to KNOW Him.

FREE
by Steven Curtis Chapman
The sun was beating down inside
the walls of stone and razor wire
As we made our way across the prison yard

I felt my heart begin to race
as we drew nearer to the place
Where they say that death is waiting in the dark
 
The slamming doors of iron echoed through the halls
Where despair holds life within its cruel claws
 
But then I met a man who's face seemed so strangely out of place
A blinding light of hope was shining in his eyes

And with repentance in his voice he told me of his tragic choice
That led him to this place where he must pay the price
 
But then his voice grew strong as he began to tell
About the One he said had rescued him from hell, he said . . .

I'm free, yeah, oh, I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains
and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, yeah,
and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death
can take away from me
Because I'm free
Jesus set me free

We said a prayer and said goodbye
and tears began to fill my eyes
As I stepped back out into the blinding sun
And even as I drove away I found that I could not escape
The way he spoke of what the grace of God had done
 
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die
And how God gave His only Son so you and I could say . . .

And if the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free indeed,
Oh, you are really free
If the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free, really, really, free

Oh, we're free, yeah, oh, we have been forgiven
God's grace has broken every chain and given us these wings
And we're free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, yeah, the freedom we've been given
 
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, oh, we're free
We are free, we are free
The Son has set us free

If the Son has set you free
You are free indeed

Original Date: July 17, 2006