Free Indeed!

 FREE INDEED! - John 8:36

I will never forget a story I heard years ago about a man who told of a puppy he found while out for a walk one morning. The dog lay whimpering in the ditch completely entangled in a heavy nylon cord. Unable to free himself, the dog now lay helplessly in pain on the side of the road. 

The man approached the desperate dog with a great deal of compassion, speaking gentle, soothing words attempting to calm the puppy’s obvious apprehension for the man. Carefully studying the direction of the constricting cords bound tightly around the puppy’s legs and body, the man searched for a loose end to liberate the entangled puppy. The cords however were unyielding, and each tug in one area only tightened the cords in another, causing the puppy even greater pain. 

The puppy’s immediate reaction was to retaliate against the man, feeling as though the man was deliberately trying to do him harm. As the man worked diligently to free the suffering puppy, the puppy continually snapped and snarled at the man, not realizing the man was his only chance for liberation.

All the puppy knew was he was in pain and did not know why. 

It is a stark visual of how the cords of our past entangle us in similar ways. Cords of bitterness, anger, fear, guilt, shame, hurt, rejection, abandonment, abuse, etc., all hold us hostage to the pain of our past. We grow so accustomed to our cords—even defending or excusing their existence—that we fail to recognize the gradual constriction with each passing year. Eventually we surrender to the intensity and control of the cords, feeling as though we are forever bound in our pain, and even growing comfortable in them.

Everything around us then becomes a source of added pain. Unsuspecting passersby who recognize the mournful sounds of our discomfort innocently offer assistance, but sadly fall victim to sharp retaliation as we lash out in defense.

We don’t really mean to. We don’t really want to. All we know is that we are in pain.

It is a lonely and painful place when we are so bound in our pain that we become unapproachable, even to those God may have sent to offer compassion and assistance, as well as the means to free us, or better yet--the One who will loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6

"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) 

The Son of God will set us free indeed, but indeed doesn’t necessarily mean instantaneously, and the process will often require some work on our part with unyielding determination, boundless patience, intense meditation and a host of compassionate prayer warriors ready to do battle on their knees. Freedom may often cost us temporary comfort, but the ultimate reward is liberty! (Phil. 1:19)

The enemy desires to hold us in mental and emotional bondage, but “God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). 

God’s will for His children is inner peace; He is not the author of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33). The Prince of Peace will reestablish us in His peace and “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty”. (2 Cor. 3:17) 

Call on Jesus, for “it is the name of Jesus that strengthens us; and the faith that comes through Him gives us perfect health. (Acts 3:16) 

Father, our lives can often become so entangled with the choking cords of our past that keep us from living the abundant life You desire for Your people. The enemy gloats in our pain knowing it renders us ineffective in the Kingdom, but You God, You see the victory we have in Christ Jesus, and in You all things are possible. The blood of Christ sets us free from our past. Strengthen now Your children Father to surrender every painful cord of our past to You. Give us eyes to see the victory we have in Jesus. Free us from all that binds us that we may walk in the confidence of perfect health, love, and a sound mind through the power of the Holy Spirit. Glory be to our God!