Being Set Free…

Jesus said…”If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free…if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed…” (Gospel of John 8:31-36 RSV)

We all sin, for we all have “missed the mark” of holiness: that is, loving God with the entirety of our hearts, minds, souls and strength and our neighbor as our own selves.  And further, Jesus says that whoever sins becomes a slave to sin (John 8:34).  Jesus Christ came to secure for us freedom from slavery to sin of course, but also precious freedom for something more: for love, love of God and love of neighbor. 

We were made from the very beginning by God to experience perfect love; it’s what our hungry hearts long for.  It’s as though there’s a hole inside each human heart which is just waiting for what only love can provide.  But human relationships will always fail or disappoint us because we’re all limited and flawed.   

The fear of being rejected or betrayed or feeling unacceptable often keeps us from receiving the very love for which we so yearn.  It becomes the barrier to deep intimacy in relationships, for we fear exposing ourselves, risking the possibility of hurt. 

And fear can drive us to cling to other things, trying vainly to fill the hole we sense within: to prestige, or material possessions, or the desire for control, or sensual pleasures.  We can even discover that we have lost our way entirely and become addicted to some of these substitutes for genuine love.  Such addiction adds another layer of enslavement. 

Our loving Father yearns to free us from the bondage which fear has generated.  He desires for us to know the perfect security of his perfect love which never fails, never disappoints.  This is why he sent his Son to redeem us from slavery, just as he delivered the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt.  Fortunately for us, God’s word says that His perfect love will drive away our fear (1 John 4:18). 

If we do as Jesus says, if we continue in his word as true disciples searching for his liberating truth, we will find real, solid love.  When we experience his real love despite our frailties and failures, we’re more likely to feel able to risk opening our hearts to love. 

We can then gradually be healed in our wounded souls and find freedom to genuinely love others.  For when we have the correct view of ourselves as beloved children who receive everything needful from Him, we are freed from striving and comparison with others because we know in our bones that there is a special place for each of us in our Father’s heart.

Ask in prayer how Jesus sees you, how the Father regards you, how special the Holy Spirit knows you to be.  Quiet your heart, begin to tell Jesus what’s on your mind and on your heart, and listen with your heart for what He will tell you.  He will show you what you are to do to walk out the healing he is offering to you.  His goal is for you to fully experience the freedom to love yourself rightly so that you can love others in deed and in truth.  

Jesus calls us to take his hand, believe his solemn promise to be with us always and to move forward into the unknown future with him.  This is what God asked of Abraham our father in faith, and this is what He invites us to now.  Striving always with his grace to keep a  listening heart and a willing spirit, we follow him on the way. 

We may follow Him hesitantly at first, taking many detours along the way, but follow we must if we are to have the abundant life He desires for us and for which we are made.