What Freedom Really Is

What Freedom Really Is

Look at a homeless man sometime. You’d think he was free. He probably doesn’t have a job he has to report to. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone or be anywhere. He’s essentially free to do whatever he wants.

But when you look into his eyes, there’s likely also an emptiness, a mix of pain and a numbed reality. He’s frozen in hopelessness. He sighs in weariness and despair. So how free is he really?

How can we be free to do what we like and still be in bondage? Perhaps freedom isn’t just about what we can choose to do but also about what consequences result from our choices.

And also this: true freedom isn’t ultimately defined by how many options we have but by who we are inside. And that kind of freedom is only discovered when our choices move beyond superficial self-interest to decisions governed by the life that matters.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

—John 8:31–32