True Freedom

Isn’t it amazing how God sometimes causes an item to pop up repeatedly to get a point across?  It seems to happen so often in my life.  An example of that is from this very morning. 

As I usually do, I started my day by reading the emailed version of The Upper Room.  It dealt with “doing the right thing” in a situation where someone needed a little help.  I then went to the Emmaus web site’s blog area. 

There are two things I look forward to in the blog area.  First, there is usually something in there from Rocky (although it hasn’t changed in a bit) and there is also a verse from the Bible.  This morning, the Bible verse was from the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32: 

            Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 

Now, you may not catch the connection right off between these two items.  It’s a matter of how you define “freedom.”

Too often in today’s world, being free means having the ability to do whatever you darn well please.  That goes from the “freedom” to sleep in on Sunday morning instead of getting up for Church, to the “freedom” to ignore the plight of your neighbor who is in some sort of distress.

Jesus told us that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  So, if He is the truth, and you know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, how does that jibe with some people’s definition of “freedom” noted just above.

It seems to me the freedom that comes from knowing the truth - from knowing Christ - is the freedom to “do the right thing.”  It is freedom from sin. True freedom must be the freedom to choose the right path, to "do the right thing," to do what you already know in heart is what Jesus would have you do.