Years ago, a church bulletin announced a new adult class: “‘Healing Our Emotional Wounds,’ led by Dr. Al Barrow.” We wondered how many would come since such a class had never been taught. To our surprise, more than a hundred people filled the room.
It is true. The pain of the past—and the present—can constrain our life. Memories tinged by guilt or shame can feel like an inescapable prison. Unhealthy habits we cannot overcome can bind us like prison bars. And yet, God wants us to live free. Long ago, the English poet Richard Lovelace wrote these words: “Stone walls do not a prison make/Nor iron bars a cage…”
Old patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving can feel like prison walls and bars. Memories really can haunt us, and anxiety can obliterate joy. In our own human power, old patterns are not easily broken, and old experiences are not quickly healed. Yes, we need forgiveness and healing for our sins, and Jesus provides that as our Savior. But we also need healing for the bruises and scars we carry inside which are often invisible to others—Jesus provides that as our Healer. We have all heard and may have said ourselves, “I feel trapped.” Financial pressures, stressed relationships, and health limitations—what circumstances have felt to you like stone walls and iron bars? What experiences have seemed to put you in prison?
For freedom Christ has set us free…Galatians 5:1 (ESV)
Paul wrote this declaration of freedom to strengthen us, guide us, and remind us of what God has done for us through Jesus. We need both freedom from and freedom for. Let me encourage you. Because of Jesus, we have:
Freedom from guilt.
We need true and deep forgiveness; we long for it. Most of us are honest enough to agree that we have done things we know are wrong and for which we feel shame. Our natural bent toward self-centeredness injures our relationships and spoils our lives. Guilt-tinged memories can imprison us and haunt us through the years. Is freedom from guilt truly possible? Oh yes! The heart of the gospel message is that Jesus came to die in our place, to pay the penalty for every sin. He opened the door for a right relationship with God. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1).
Freedom to know the God who made us.
We need to know our Father, our Creator. Jesus opened the door for us to know we are God’s loved sons and daughters, freely able to seek our Father’s help. Our truest self has a “God-space” that only our Creator can fill. A relationship with God is truly our deepest need.
Freedom to become the person God created us to be.
Every one of us has experienced hurt by the sins of others—actions or words, some of them brutal indeed. We have not only sinned, but we have been sinned against. These wounds may run very deep, telling us lies about our worth and abilities. Yet God speaks truth to us! We learn that He not only cleanses us from our sins but frees us, restores us, sets a new name upon us, and directs our life on a new course. This is God’s freedom from emotional wounds! It can bring profound change and initiate our steps into the joy and peace we all seek.
Freedom for meaning and purpose.
We are free to be part of all God is doing in the world. We are free to love, free to change old patterns with God’s help, and free to grow into the people God created us to be. We are free to live as God’s deeply beloved children and free to love others in increasingly generous ways. We discover that God grants us the freedom to change, grow, and love more deeply.
In 1642, English poet Richard Lovelace was locked up because of his political views.
From his cell he wrote to the woman he loved:
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage:
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.¹
“And in my soul am free…” This is the freedom our good and gracious God
grants to me and to you.
by Pastor June Barrow
¹Lovelace, Richard. “To Althea, from Prison.” Lucasta, 1649.
