Focus: Real Freedom

Text: Jh.8:32

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Every man wants freedom. The need for freedom implies that bondage is an unwanted reality in our world. The fact of that statement always dawns on me that "man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Man has been in chains ever since he sold himself to the lies of the devil. 

John writes that "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1Jh.5:19). Satan has got the man exactly where he wants him, right on his laps and under his control and manipulation. It was on the laps of Delilah that Samson lost his ability and liberty (Judg.16:19). Luke tells us about the mad man of Gadara, "(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness)" (Lk.8:29). 

This is a clear illustration that all freedom is not real, and that the devil is behind human bondage. No bondage is ordinary; it only seems so. This mad man could not be successfully bound. Mark says no man could tame him. He could not be gagged or caged by anyone. He lived and felt like a free man, but he was not himself. He was suffering from the bondage of insanity. Demons in their large numbers made his heart their home. They resided in him and presided over him. His freedom was only a lie. His freedom was evidence of bondage. He was wild and untamable.

In our world today, man thinks he is free, but it is very obvious that he is not. He is in a bondage of some sort. The evils in our world is proof of our madness, and they show the depth of our bondage.

Jesus says to the Jews who believed in him, "And ye shall know the truth…" True freedom consists in knowing the truth of God. No one is truly set free by a lie. The greater the lie, the greater the bondage. If truth cannot set you free, nothing else can. We gain true freedom by constantly learning the truth. The power of truth is encountered by the effect it produces, which is freedom from bondage. 

Understand that in that area of your life where truth is not known, in that area you will remain in bondage. We must let the light of truth shine in all areas and corners of our lives. Halfway truth never leads to total freedom. By truth is meant the word of truth. Jesus Christ tells the people to make His words their home. In essence He says, 'Live in my words.' Let the words of Christ be our incubator! Inhale and exhale the word of God! Paul says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…" While Jesus Christ says, 'Make my word your home,' Paul says, 'Make your heart the home of the word of Christ.' 

Jesus Christ captures it perfectly in one sentence, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you…" That is mutual abiding. That is kinship and intimacy. That is spiritual integration. That is spiritual oneness. That is a bonding on which true liberty depends, and from which it develops. We must learn truth and keep learning it. We learn the truth of Christ diligently and intimately, not intellectually. It is knowing by heart, not knowing in one's head.

Jesus Christ says, "…and the truth shall make you free." Part of the meaning of the word 'free' is to be exempted from certain things. Truth, when known, exempts you from the bondage suffered by others. When you no longer believe in a lie, you become exempted from the perils that lies impose on those who believe in them. 

Ignorance is a bondage. Arrogance is a bondage. Avarice is a bondage. Sin is a bondage. Selfishness is a bondage. It is a bondage, harboring unforgiving spirit.

But you experience real freedom when you know the truth. And it is by knowing the truth that lies are uncovered. Error occurs when truth is twisted, mixed up or adulterated.

Knowing truth is knowing the person of Christ, for He says, "I am the truth." Truth is more than a 'what'; it is a 'who'. It is more than a proposition; it is a person - the person of Jesus Christ. Christ says, "If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (Jh.8:36). In the Jewish tradition or culture, it is the adult son of the family who qualifies to set a slave free, that is, apart from the father of the house. 

We are all slaves to sin, Satan, and death until Jesus Christ the Son of God sets us free from the lies, deceits and tyranny of these tripartite monsters.

Truth liberates when we encounter and embrace it. Truth empowers when we surrender to it. Truth shapes our character and integrates our whole life when we let it guide our decisions and actions, and totally control us. Someone has rightly said that "true freedom is not the liberty to do anything we please, but the liberty to do what we ought; and it is genuine liberty because doing what we ought now pleases us."

I pray for you to experience real freedom which comes by constantly and intimately knowing the unveiled truth and reality of God!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter