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.

Is Commitment a Kind of Freedom?

I've been thinking a lot lately about how variable the concept of "freedom" is.  Freedom is only a relative state of being, for one thing.  There is no such thing as "complete freedom"--you can only be "free of" something.  If you are free of everything, you really aren't free at all.  For example, if I am free of my family, I may find myself trapped by my loneliness and longing for them.  If I am free of gravity, I am trapped by my inability to stay firmly planted on the ground and do all the things that require gravity (and, for that matter, I would soon be dead--"freed" of my life).  So, "freedom" is only so valuable as the degree of evil of the thing from which you are made free.

So, when I visited Starbucks this week and read "The Way I See It" (#76) on my cup, I found it of particular interest.  This is what it said:

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating--in work, in play, in love.  The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation.  To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."  --Anne Morriss

Now, think about that for a moment.  Read it again and let it sink in.   

Our entire society--in fact, the society of the entire earth--is absolutely obsessed with the idea of freedom.  We think we want free everything.  We want free stuff (making us liberated from having to work or earn a living); we want free choice (liberating us from responsibility to the laws--whether they be moral or political); we want free love (liberating us from commitment to another person in marriage).  However, in each situation these kinds of "liberations" or "freedoms" are illusions.  They are traps.  They are deceptions.  They are lies.  When we free ourselves from the need to work, we simply end up taking advantage of others, falling prey to laziness and self-centeredness and, when it catches up with us, starving to death.  When we free ourselves from moral and/or political law, we also end up falling prey to our own depravity--we inflict pain on others and destroy ourselves.  When we free ourselves from loving commitments to others, we become trapped by our loneliness, our lusts and, eventually, to all the ailments that attack those with a promiscuous lifestyle.  What do all these scenarios have in common?  Our destruction.

I, like Ms. Morriss, believe commitment to be one of wisest and most liberating decisions we can make--if made to something or someone worthy of that commitment.  

God said:  

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

Challenge:  Search your heart.  How free are you?  Have you committed yourself to something or someone that is robbing you of true freedom?  Have you avoided committing your life to the God who made you and loves you and desires only your best?  If so, make a change!  Ask Jesus for the freedom only He can provide.

Stockholm Syndrome--A Common Reaction to Sin

Wikipedia defines Stockholm Syndrome as “a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger (or at least risk) in which he has been placed.”  This term was coined by criminologist and psychiatrist, Nils Bejerot, when, in August of 1973, several people were taken hostage during Kreditbanken bank robbery in Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, Sweden.   Though the victims were held hostage for six days, once freed they showed attachment to their captors and even defended them.  

Another example can be found in the case of Carol Smith.  On May 19, 1977, Carol (age 20) was attempting to hitchhike from Eugene, Oregon to Westwood, in Northern California.  When a young family--consisting of a man, woman and baby--stopped to pick her up, she felt they were safe, and so accepted the ride.  Soon, though, she realized her danger, when the man--Cameron Hooker (who had already murdered one young woman)--drove to a remote location, put a knife to her throat and then bound, blindfolded her, gagged her and put a plywood box over her head that prevented her from being able to eat, drink, hear or see.  Over the next seven years, Carol was held by this couple and used as a sex slave.  She was repeatedly beaten, raped and tortured. For much of the time she was caged in a small wooden box until Hooker felt the need to heap abuse on her.  In addition to all this, Hooker used psychological abuse and threats to her and her loved ones to keep her under his control.  However, even after she escaped (only willing to do so at the insistence of Janice Hooker, the wife), Carol never went to the police.  In fact, she even called him many times.  It was Janice who finally turned Hooker in.  During the trial Carol was reticent to testify against her captor and the defense introduced letters in which Carol proclaimed her love for Cameron.

Other examples of Stockholm Syndrome include victims of domestic abuse and child abuse who refuse to leave or turn in their abusers.  

Once source explains it this way:

"What appears to occur, according to experts who have studied the phenomenon, is that the person "freezes" as a way to avoid further torture, and then yields to try to appease the captor.  If the captor then takes care of basic needs, the captive may feel gratitude bordering on affection..  Such victims become susceptible to suggestion, and having their own world shrink to that shared with the captor, may become sympathetic.   Identifying with the captor and seeing no way to escape, it becomes easier to acquiesce, even to the point of acting as if they love their captors.  They are trying to arrange their otherwise unsafe and difficult world for maximum comfort and safety." (Ref.)

When I hear these anecdotes of people who identify with and even defend their captors--people who have viciously abused and brutalized them--I am dumbfounded.  And, yet, it is my belief that Stockholm Syndrome is much more common than we may think.  In fact, the vast majority of us will experience some level of Stockholm Syndrome at some point in our lives.  Some of us even live in a continual state of this mental condition.  How?  Consider this:  Anytime we are held captive by anything that is detrimental to us, we are at risk of developing Stockholm Syndrome.  Whenever we are caught by an enemy, we have two choices:  fight for our freedom or give in to our captor.  When we fight, we will most likely go through a heightened time of trouble--at least until we gain our complete freedom.  However, by giving in-- aligning ourselves with the enemy--we are able to embrace the illusion that we have some amount of power in our situation and, thereby, granting ourselves a false sense of freedom.  

What are these enemies?  Anything that stands between us and our relationship with God. That is, anything that controls us to the exclusion of God's control over our lives.

Romans 6:12-14  "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, for you are not under law, but under grace."

The Bible has warned us of many of these things--such as sexual sin, alcohol abuse, greed, idolatry, etc.--but keep in mind that anything can become your master if you allow it.  Even such things as shopping, video games, relationships and even religious activities can come between us and the freedom Christ purchased for us on the cross.  Anything in your life that draws your love away from God puts you at risk.  Once made captive, you are in danger of succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome and, thereby, being destroyed.

James 1:13-15  "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death."

Romans 3:23  "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord."

We are all often tempted to sin and to put other things in God's rightful place in our hearts and lives; however, if we don't resist, that temptation, we become sin's captives.  Once captive, we can either struggle against our captor and ask God to free us, or we can accept the sin in our lives, learn to love it, and turn our backs on the truth of the evil we have embraced.

I have seen this unhealthy response many times--even in my own life when I chose to remain in an unhealthy relationship to the detriment of my relationship with God.  I have seen it in my friends, who embraced homosexuality, allowing themselves to be convinced that it was okay--even healthy--despite the absolute wreckage it made of their lives.  I have seen it in the beliefs of young people who have accepted false teachings.  But, perhaps the most depressing of all, I have seen it in a woman who completely turned her back on Jesus to the point of becoming an atheist because life without God made her feel free.  Suddenly she believed she was the master of her own life.  

Unfortunately, all of us were not embracing Truth, but lies.  We either failed to recognize our captor or we decided to embrace our sin in order to revel in a false freedom.  Somehow this seemed preferable to going through the humbling process of allowing God to rescue us, clean us and give us true freedom--freedom from our sin.

This is not a new problem:

Romans 1:18-32  "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.  

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  

In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.  

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 

slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 

they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  

Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

When we allow ourselves to remain in our sin--in opposition to God--we do not secure freedom, but our own destruction.  

CHALLENGE:  Ask God to search your heart and identify those areas which you have allowed to be mastered by another.  Rededicate those areas to Him and ask Him to help you despise sin and cling to Jesus--the Way, the Truth and the Life.  (John 14:6)

Psalm 139:23-24  "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Does Freedom Exist?

Many people mistakenly think that anything that makes you experience more freedom must be a good thing. This faulty reasoning is used as the justification for all kinds of harmful practices. Unlike truth, freedom is a relative thing. There is no such thing as absolute, total freedom. People are not designed, either physically, emotionally, spiritually or otherwise, to be capable of experiencing such a thing. Let me explain why:

Freedom is not a self-defining thing, nor is it self-sustaining. In order to be free, you must be free "of something". For example, even though our country offers us many freedoms, we are still not free from our obligation to its laws. In a sense, we are held captive by the laws of this nation. If we decided we wanted to be free from the laws of America and overturned the goverment until there only anarchy remained, would we then be finally free? Certainly not! It would be then that the freedoms that matter would be stripped from us--such as the freedom to enjoy security, orderliness and a life free of fear. Freedom, then is relative. Being "captive", then is also relative. What matters most is this: To what are we being held captive?

Let's bring this onto a spiritual plane. Is spiritual freedom possible? Is it more "free" to believe in a God to whom you dedicate your entire existence, or more "free" to choose not to believe in God and lead your own life? I can certainly see the reasoning behind the argument for the latter and have heard it often. Starting from a point of non-belief, it would seem much more freeing to believe in no God. Also, if one was following a religious system and became disillusioned with it, choosing to deny God would also feel very freeing. However, again we must ask ourselves, what am I being freed from? And, having made my choice, what am I now captive to?

If God exists, made us, loves us and desires a fully, open, dynamic, growing relationship with us--one in which we give Him our complete love and trust--what would that mean? Would this be freeing or enslaving? Well, is marriage freeing or enslaving? It greatly depends on the marriage, I would say. I was once in a relationship that was all about enslaving. It was unhealthy and there was no freedom in it. Now, however, my relationship with my husband gives me a great abundance of freedom. I am free to laugh, love and be who I am--knowing that he will always love me, too. The knowledge that he is my support and my provider and my security is also greatly freeing--I am no longer captive to fear or worry about the future. The knowledge that he is my lifelong companion is also immensely freeing--I don't have to worry about loneliness or having to go through future struggles alone.

It stands to reason then, that if God made us and loves us, it would be more freeing to follow Him, rather than our own limited knowledge and corrupted reasoning. After all, if He designed our makeup--the intricasies of our thought patterns, the infinite variables of our spiritual and emotional needs, and every other minute, seemingly unimportant fraction of our essense--who better to guide us into the best path for our ultimate, holistic well-being?

Spiritual Thought 8: Is Freewill Possible If God Knows the Future?

I've come across this discussion several times lately. I've heard people say that if God knows the future, then there couldn't be any such thing as free will. If He already knows what we're going to choose before we choose it, and bases His plan for our lives accordingly, then we didn't really have a choice at all. However, this logic is faulty, and here's why:

Consider a similar example:
I know my 9-year-old daughter very well. I know that she doesn't like gravy on her meat or mashed potatoes and she doesn't like dressing on her salads. She eats them both dry. Don't ask me why; it's strange, I know. (But it's more healthy, so I don't push it.) Still, whenever we have salad or mashed potatoes, I ask, "Do you want gravy?" or "Do you want some dressing?" It's on the table and it's available to her if she chooses to have it. I know, though, that she will say, "No, thanks." So, if she chooses against the dressing or the gravy, does that mean she wasn't excersizing free will, just because I knew in advance what she was going to do? Certainly, not! She always has the option of choosing differently than she normally does. If she, one day, said, "Yes, I think I'll try some Ranch dressing today," would I say, "Oh. Actually, you can't have any. I was just joking."? Of course, not. I would pass her the dressing with my compliments.

Knowledge does not equal choice. It never does. Can you come up with an example of when knowing something equals choosing something? I can't. They are two completely different mental functions. Even in extreme cases, they are different. If you are standing next to a bomb that is about to explode, you have a choice: run or stay put. Just because we know most people would run, doesn't mean that a choice wasn't made in that instant.

So, knowing that my daughter will turn down the dressing, does that mean I'm choosing not to allow her to have it? No. Just because God knows the future doesn't mean He's making our choices for us. Even by making a plan in accordance with our choices, He still is allowing us free will. I still have a wide variety of salad dressing choices in my frig. If she ever changes her mind, I'm prepared.

Here's another example: Let's say you are a new student looking for a college to attend. Both Yale and Harvard accept you into their schools. You have a choice to make. Let's say that God knows that you are going to choose Harvard. He also knows that there is a wonderful person there that you are going to meet and eventually marry. So, does that mean that you don't have a choice? Does that mean that if you chose Yale, that they'd say, "Oh, whoops! The letter we sent you had a typo. We meant to say, 'You're NOT accepted.' Sorry." No. So, what if you chose Yale and ended up going to Yale? Did you thwart God's plan? No. He knew you'd choose Yale, in that case, and there's probably a special person waiting for you there, instead. Just because our choices don't derail God's plan doesn't mean that we're not really choosing. Neither does it mean that God is choosing for us.

I think, possibly, one reason we don't like the idea of God's foreknowledge is because we feel trapped into a certain path--like if someone knows what we're going to choose, our choices don't really matter. This is a limited way of thinking--learned through our dependence on our linear existence. It is uncomfortable and confusing to try to think of anyone, even God, living outside of linear time. It's time, though, to stop trying to limit God. If you're going to understand anything about Him, you have to allow for His biggness--that He is not held within our limits.

I think we also don't like the idea that our poor choices rest solely on our own shoulders. We kindof like the idea that God planned for us to make the mistakes we're making, thus eliminating any personal responsibility. We think, "If God is to blame for my poor choices, then He couldn't punish me for them." Two problems here: 1, God's purpose is not to punish, but to save. 2, Freewill is possible; therefore, our choices are ours alone. No one else can be blamed for them. It's time we own up to our own failures. It's the only way we will ever learn to see our lives from a right perspective, and it's the first step towards finding forgiveness, peace and hope.