Can You Find Complete Freedom In Christ In This Life? (The Answer Might Surprise You....)

On October 14, 2012 I lost a very dear friend to cancer. The following January, I moved in to a new state and left my home of eleven years (and my entire support system). Needless to say, 2013 was a really sucky year. Everything made me cry. And I mean everything. Commercials. Songs on the radio. Silent moments. Small frustrations.

Now, as my regular readers know, I'm a Christian. I love Jesus. I don't just believe--I know--He is in control and that He is coming back and is going to kick some serious butt in the suffering department. He will wipe every tear away and show us something so awesome that nothing we have suffered will matter.

But that's then....

I have to live right now. In this time. In this place. In this mess.

And so do you.

Sometimes (okay, always) it's hard for me to try to explain my burdens and sorrows to other Christians because I’m afraid I’m going to get some kind of pat, "versish" answer, like, "Just cast all your cares on Him and He will set you free." Or, "You just have to trust in Jesus to get you through it." Or, my most favorite (NOT!), "Well, you know God will never give you more than you can handle."

(OK, that last one is not even in the Bible. Look it up. I don’t care if there’s a popular song by Group 1 Crew right on the Christian stations that say it. It’s still false. The Bible says He will not tempt you beyond what you can bear. (I Corinthians 10:12-13) It even says He can’t tempt anyone to sin. (James 1:13) And most suffering—unless it’s actually God disciplining us, which is rare—doesn’t and can’t come from God anyway, (Job 34:10-12) so that misquote is seriously messed up. So let’s all just stop saying it.)

The fact is, in this life we will suffer. (That’s actually in the Bible—John 16:33. Not surprisingly, it’s one of Jesus’s less quoted promises.) But, that fact is not what I really struggle with. I expect to suffer and I know Christ suffered, died, and rose again to conquer the cause of our suffering—to break sin’s hold on the world and our own allegiance to it. But the Christian can find a sort of eternal perspective for most bad things that happen. When my friend died, I knew I’d see her again in Heaven. It doesn’t make me not miss her now, but I can look forward to a time I will no longer miss her. And Christ can bring amazing healing in what seem like insurmountably bad experiences—broken marriages, abuse, neglect, addictions, etc. Granted. (But it’s still pretty awesome and amazing!)

…But I still have some burdens that I feel will never go away. What about all those people who do not know Jesus? What about all of my friends and family and the strangers in China or down the block who suffer needlessly because they either don’t know or have rejected Him? I have this incredible burden for the people who share this world with me, and yet I often feel so incredibly powerless to really help them. I have cried and prayed about this often lately. That even if I am being incredibly blessed (which I am), I yet constantly grieve for those around me—I wear my sorrow for them like a heavy blanket I can’t put down. This doesn’t feel like “freedom in Christ.” It feels like being burdened by Christ. How can I find joy in my salvation knowing so many don’t yet know Him and, maybe, will never know Him?

The other day, as I was again contemplating these things while driving home, I was suddenly struck by a thought.

Jesus, too, was deeply emotionally burdened for the lost and suffering people of the world.

Duh, right? I mean, it’s pretty simple. It’s not like this is new information. But, to me in that moment, it was like I was seeing it for the first time. When the Bible says we have “freedom in Christ,” it’s talking about having freedom from our own sinfulness (if we so choose to accept it), it does not mean some kind of blanket freedom that means we should always be happy or jumping for “joy in the Lord.”

Even Christ didn’t have that kind of freedom in Christ!

He was a seriously miserable guy a lot of the time. (He weeps: John 11:35, He loses His cool: Matt. 23:33, He really loses His cool: John 2:15, He is in so much anguish His sweat fills with blood: Luke 22:44.) And I believe He STILL feels that way—for every man, woman, and child who is suffering in this moment, who feels rejected, who is fighting cancer, who is being cruelly abused, who is blinded by sin or pride, who has lost someone they love… who has not recognized God’s saving grace through Jesus’s sacrifice.

Freedom in Christ is not complete freedom from any and all feelings of despair or sorrow or longing. Christ mourned for the lost (John 11:35), He felt deep sorrow and anger at the lack of faith of His own disciples (Matt. 16:33), He longed for our salvation so desperately that He was willing to die a horrific death to make it possible (John 3:16-17).  

Some sufferings in this life we get over, we heal, we see beyond. Some we don’t. Sometimes we have to wait and trust and hope even as we go through it. And that’s okay. God wants us to be burdened by the sufferings of those around us (Col. 3:12-13 & a boat-load more). He wants us to empathize and sympathize with those who need help, a leg up, a word of encouragement, a second chance….

So I can now pray, “Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours,” and know that I’m not giving up my joy in the Lord. I’m just sacrificing some of my temporary happiness so I will be motivated to share that lasting joy with as many people as I can, while I can.

Should Feelings be a Basis for Faith?

Perhaps you have come across religions who say something like this: "If you have a question about our faith and aren't sure it's really true or not, just pray and ask God to give you assurance. If you experience a burning in your chest through His Holy Spirit, then you know that these things can be trusted."

Or, perhaps, you have had some kind of heightened emotional experience connected with a religious belief and, though certain aspects of that belief seem to be contradictory, you are hesitant to question them because you do not want to dismiss the validity of that experience or admit that you could have been emotionally misled in some way.

Let me offer you these words of encouragement from the Bible: Test everything. Hold on to the good. I Thessalonians 5:21

God is a mysterious Being, to be sure, and our interactions with Him will undoubtedly be quite emotional from time to time; however, He wants us to have a faith based on knowledge, wisdom and committed love, not simply emotion. Psalms 119:66 tells says, Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. And, Proverbs 2:6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (See also: Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 11:9, Proverbs 20:15, Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 24:3-4, Isaiah 33:6, Phillipians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9, 2 Peter 1:5-11)

It's important to note that, while emotion itself is not a bad thing (it was given to us by God, after all), it was never intended as a means by which to determine truth. Why? Because emotions are deceptive and can be easily swayed and manipulated by various outside forces, not the least of which is Satan himself. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

So, if our own hearts (i.e. our emotions) can be deceptive, how do we know if what the man behind the pulpit is saying is true or not? How do we know if someone is trying to deceive us? How do we know if our past emotional experiences were based on truth or on lies? We do some digging! We study and pray and then study some more. Then, once we determine that the Bible can be trusted, we use it as a lens through which we test everything else. The Bible itself actually tells us to do so through the example of the Bereans: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

You may have also noticed that these same religions that encourage a reliance on emotion, rarely encourage deep, personal study of the Bible--even if they claim that the Bible is one of their accepted religious texts. Much more emphasis is given to other, extra-biblical writings, which invariably contradict the Bible (and, hence, lead to this need for emotional validation, since intellectual validation is unobtainable.) However, the Bible welcomes deep study and is fully capable of standing up under scrutiny. God also warns us in I John 4:1-3 to be wary of those who would seek to mislead us:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ [as defined in the Bible--added by author] has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Remember, don't trust in your emotions or in reason apart from study, but search out these things in God's Word. Proverbs 28:26 reminds us, He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be kept safe. And Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Also, II Corinthians 13:5 gives us some good advice: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

Let me also share one more short passage with you, which is one of my personal favorites:

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.


Remember, God desires to speak to us--to our hearts, yes, but also to our minds. God, who created us, including every aspect of our beings--our emotions, our intellect, our sexuality, our spirits, our bodies, etc.--can, therefore, speak to every part of us, fill every part of us and fully sustain every part of us. We don't have to close off our minds in order to experience God--quite the opposite! And, when things don't make sense, He wants us to ask for wisdom--which He promises to give to us in abundance without finding any fault in us for needing it. What a wonderful promise!

Will I Feel Differently When I Accept Jesus?

When some people accept Christ's forgiveness for their sin and enter into a relationship with Him for the first time, they experience a rush of emotion. Some weep for joy at what God has done for them. But what if there is no rush of emotion? What if you feel pretty much the same afterwards? Does that mean your conversion "didn't take"?

No. God's promises remain true regardless of any emotion we may or may not feel. God's truth is not reliant on any feelings we may experience and our salvation is not reliant upon an emotional response. Think of it like this: some people meet, fall in love and get married. At the time of their wedding they are often consumed with emotion--love, excitement and joy. Other people enter into arranged marriages. They may experience very different emotions, or possibly very few. They are simply making a decision to make a commitment to a relationship that they, as of yet, may know little about. Now, which of these couples is more married? Neither, of course. They are both just as married and both have a good chance of it being a successful, loving relationship. So, even though the experiences were very different, both marriages are equally valid.

No matter what our emotional response may be, we need to realize that accepting Christ's offer of salvation is not simply saying a prayer. We are entering into a lifelong relationship with God. We are recognizing that God Himself, as Jesus Christ, paid the penalty for our sinfulness by His death. We are recognizing that He did this willingly—a sacrifice made so that we would not have to die for our own sins and, thereby, never be able to have a relationship with a perfect God. We are recognizing our need, His payment and our new identity in Christ, as a child of God.

The Bible says,

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

And,

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12-13)