If you do not already believe, coming to believe in something and someone can be, not only challenging, but daunting. How do you just come to believe in something that perhaps you have not previously considered is real. How can anyone prove the existence of something “spiritual”, whatever that actually means, with an empirical degree of understanding and certainty to be intellectually reasonable?
So, it is necessary to appeal to your intellectual, logical, sense of reason in attempting to prove that is more rational to believe in God than to not believe.
Here is the logical, most sensibly intellectual (not religious) question to challenge any objection anyone is likely to have pertaining to a belief in God.
Can something—anything—come from nothing, or, did something always exist to produce something more?
Neither would seem to be logical. However, regarding this either/or question, one of them is more reasonable than the other. Everything pertaining to belief and faith (trusting in what you believe) hangs on the most sensible choice between the two. One of these seemingly impossibilities must be true and factual… has to be! There is no way around it.
Once you decide that something had to always exist, the next question is…
If God (or whatever you choose to identify as the catalyst for all that is) didn’t always exist, what did?
Can something come from nothing or did something always exist? If God didn’t always exist, what did?
Considering everything that has to go right for the universe to have balance and symmetry, and for every process for every form of life to function in order to survive, develop, and reproduce in ways that together operate as a systemic union, everything operating together and functioning better together, would that something that always existed need to be someone that originally catalyzed the process?
“There is enormous ideological resistance to postulating an all-powerful, all-wise being as the creator of everything that there is, but when every other possibility has been examined in the light of reason, that is the only one that is left standing. While naturalism purports to explain why everything is the way it is in our universe, it cannot explain in a scientific and coherent way why everything came to be in the first place.” —Peter Barclay, author, Quadrant Online
You will read about a whole lot about God throughout FREEdom from MEdom Project, and how having relationship with God is essential to deliverance, healing, and restoration into wholeness. This is not about religion. This is about faith in someone who has always existed. So, for the next few paragraphs, I am going to address those who may struggle with belief in God by faith; especially those who trust in the science of how all things began. How is life possible? Why does anything alive live?
“What we know is a drop, what we do not know is a vast ocean. The admirable arrangement and harmony of the universe could only have come from the plan of an omniscient and omnipotent being.” —Sir Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician, founder of classical theoretical physics (gravitational forces)
How is it possible that anything, or anyone, always existed? Something or someone with the full spectrum of capacity to be the catalyst for every state of evolution had to always exist for anything else to exist. If not God, then what… who? What else existed that would ultimately be the originator of the universe, and catalyst for all living things? Even the father of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin, professed to being a theist (the belief in a god or God as creator), since even the theory of evolutionary mutations throughout 14 billion years of the universe could not originate and start itself on its own. That would at least border on nonsense.
“I am not an atheist… The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe… We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations… God is a mystery. But a comprehensible mystery. I have nothing but awe when I observe the laws of nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver, but how does this lawgiver look? Certainly not like a man magnified.” —Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
“I can assert most definitely that the denial of faith lacks any scientific basis. In my view, there will never be a true contradiction between faith and science.” —Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize-winning American physicist
“I have looked into most philosophical systems and I have seen that none will work without God… Science is incompetent to reason upon the creation of matter itself out of nothing. We have reached the utmost limit of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that because matter cannot be eternal and self-existent it must have been created.” —James Clerk Maxwell, physicist, credited with formulating classical electromagnetic theory
“Astronomers now find they have painted themselves into a corner because they have proven, by their own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this cosmos and on the earth. And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover… That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact.” —Robert Jastrow, astronomer and physicist, founded NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies
The universe is held together by the push-pull of physics having to do with magnetic and gravitational forces beyond anything we can possibly comprehend. Stars and galaxies are moving at least millions of miles per hour, and other massive objects are thrown by gravitational waves through the universe at thousands, if not millions, of light years per second. (If you didn’t know, each light year is 5.88 trillion miles in distance.) Does it not make absolute sense that the universe requires divine order for there to be universal harmony… someone managing these gravitational realities?
“Can you direct the movement of the stars—binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? Job 38:31-33 (NLT)
Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? Job 38:36 (NLT)
How and why does any of it work, from its origin to how it has evolved throughout history, into what it is as we experience it? How is any of it possible without God?
“It is absurd to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything. The problem of disbelieving in God is not that a man ends up believing nothing. It is much worse. He ends up believing anything.” —G.K. Chesterton, early 20th century author
Once you believe that God exists then everything about God is believable!
Think on that! Since most of you reading this are likely to be people of faith, ask these questions to those people in your life that do not believe; who have not experienced faith in God. Not only their eternity, but their quality life in the moment depends on it.
Once you accept that God exists, and that God, as creator, ordered this universal process and all that we know to be life, then anything and everything else is possible about God. That includes the person we know to be Jesus, who died for sin and was resurrected to life. If God can begin life from nothing, then God can most certainly raise the dead back to life.
It is a rather small pill to swallow and digest once fully comprehended. It is the substance that allows us to have hope in what and who we know to be real and alive. Inspiring a bunch of people to document what so many have reasonably concluded to be the Word of God—the Bible—reasonably makes sense.
If you believe that God, the creator of all living things, made you, and you don’t like yourself all that much, then what comes to mind when you think about God? If you believe that God made the people in your life that have caused you harm to one degree or another, then what comes to your mind about God?
Where was God when certain events occurred in my life? Where was God when I was traumatized? Where was God when I was abandoned? Why would I believe that God is paying any attention to me now if he wasn’t there for me when I needed him last time?
A question for a lot of people who accept that God is sovereign and is the ultimate authority in the universe, when challenged, disappointed, wounded, and scared, is this question that King David, an icon of the Old Testament, asked about God:
O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them,
mere mortals that you should think about them? Psalms 144:3 (NLT)
Who am I that God would even notice me?
Have you considered how God thinks about you?
It’s important. It is what renders your perceptions of God. If you perceive God to be loving, compassionate… forgiving, you will feel one way about God. If you perceive God to be rigid, judgmental, and condemning, you will feel another way about God.
If you allow people who influence you to believe that God is rigid, judgmental, and condemning, or you have been emotionally injured, especially when shamed, by people claiming to be religious believers, it may be likely that your perceptions of God have been warped and jaded. When you are loved and cared for by compassionate people of faith whose lives and character are consistent with sincere faith, your perceptions of God may tend to reflect the love, mercy, and grace that has been modelled before you, and touched your life, perhaps in a profound way.
FREEdom from MEdom Project addresses head on the matter of your soul, while also helping you to better understand the relationship between your soul and your brain—your mind—and everything about you: physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
If you knew for certain that Jesus loves you and wants his best for you, and could fill your soul—your very life—with peace and joy, with strength and confidence, you would want that, right? Who wouldn’t?
Who Am I to God?
That is the question, isn’t it.
Perception, vision, belief, and trust determine how you are calibrated to take on the challenges as a human being making your own decisions in a reality with other human beings making their own decisions. As our choices collectively have an impact on each of us, where is God in it all? How, where, and when do we need for God to intervene?
There are trillions of stars and a couple of trillion galaxies containing hundreds of billions of stars each flying about and throughout the universe at unimaginable speeds. It’s an awfully crowded universe. The perfect gravitational push-pull orbital “miracle” keeps the universe from being one astronomical chaotic mess of a wreck. How awesome is the sovereignty of God within and throughout the harmonic order of the universe.
“To be sure the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted in the real sense by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has never been able to set foot.” —Albert Einstein
Considering that there are some eight billion people on planet earth, you are invisible in the context of the universe, and perhaps a snowflake in a blizzard in view of this vast world of ours. It’s an awfully crowded world. How and why would God, the sovereign maker and keeper of all of it all, happen to notice you, to find you among the crowd, paying particular attention to you in the very moment of your greatest need?
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I am distant. You see me when I move and when I rest. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my life. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! Psalms 139:1-7 (NLT, slightly modified)
The same person who asked, “Who am I, O Lord, I that you would notice me?” responds to his own question with (paraphrasing), “You always know where I am. You always know what I do. You know what I am thinking, even when I attempt to distance myself from you. You always know what I am going to say. You are with me wherever I choose to go, even when I, for some reason, attempt to escape your presence. I don’t understand! It’s too much for me to comprehend.”
Huh? So, which is it? Does God notice us in our need? Is he really paying attention?
I suppose it depends on the lens of your understanding in the way you view yourself, your life, the world you live in, and your place within the world you live in. How you see yourself, your life, and your world, will be the measure of whether you are prepared and willing to embrace opportunity with optimism (even if guarded), or trend towards resisting opportunity out of fear.
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Psalms 139:11-12 (NLT)
FREEdom from MEdom Project emphasizes the need for recovery; the process of restoring your life into better living. Recovery from what? Recovery from addiction, of course. You may ask, “What if I’m not addicted?” An accurate response to that question is, well, another question. Are you entirely content with how and where you are in your life? Are you hidden in darkness or are you brimming with light?
FREEdom from FREEdom Project is an attempt to help you to wrap your mind around this reality of having been noticed by God in a way that is so real that it will be made known to you as you go on this journey. I hope to break it all down in a way that you will find it to be intellectually reasonable… sensible. It may require some faith on your part, which in and of itself is something to be wrestled with, I suppose, but here it goes.
You may be someone who has been opposed to anything having to do with faith, particularly in its religious context. But faith is not about religion. Faith is all about a relationship with God through Jesus, who can and will change everything in you that needs changing… if you choose trust and surrender to this process of renewal through healing and restoration.
The problem, though, is this: How do you get past any objections you might have, those preconceived notions about God that may oppose putting your faith in a relationship with Jesus?
FREEdom from MEdom Project will attempt to help you to understand how completely God knows you and understands you, how much God cares for you—loves you—and wants nothing but the best for you. This may be extremely difficult to understand when you are struggling with the pain of unhealed wounds and insurmountable challenges, wondering, “Where is God? Where’s he been? Why am I in this condition in the first place?” Good questions.
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Psalms 139:11-12 (NLT)
You may be someone who has been opposed to anything having to do with faith, particularly in its religious context. But faith is not about religion. Faith is all about a relationship with God through Jesus, who can and will change everything in you that needs changing… if you choose trust and surrender to this process of renewal through healing and restoration.
The problem, though, is this: How do you get past any objections you might have, those preconceived notions about God that may oppose putting your faith in a relationship with Jesus?
“My faith helps me understand that circumstances don’t dictate my happiness, my inner peace… True desire in the heart for anything good is God’s proof to you sent beforehand to indicate that it’s yours already.” —Denzel Washington, American actor
Much of what you will read throughout FREEdom from MEdom Project has to do with faith. What really is faith? While it is true that faith is trusting in what you do not see with your eyes, it is not blind faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
According to Merriam-Webster, substance is defined as “ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change” and evidence is defined as an “outward indication that furnishes proof” that something is authentic. It is real; to be believed. You have never seen air, or gravity, or a cell phone or WiFi signal, though you believe them to be as real as these words you are reading. We accept and trust what we do not see all the time.
You haven’t seen wind, either. You have seen objects blown around and moved by wind. You have seen, heard, and felt resistance to wind. Wind can be immense, and extremely forceful as evidenced by the effects of hurricanes, tornadoes, and cyclones. You have seen its impact. In other words, you have experienced the substance and evidence of wind, but in fact, you (nor anyone else) have ever seen wind.
You have not seen God with your eyes, but it is possible, even likely, that you have in some way experienced God. You may have been impacted in some way by the presence of God. Millions, if not billions, of people have been profoundly moved by the force of God over generations throughout history. The window of faith is always open, even though you may not trust it beyond what you can see.
Even being opposed to faith in God suggests fundamentally that you believe God to be real. How does that make any sense? Why would you, or anyone, be opposed to belief—even faith—in God, unless there belief in God? Many have said to me, “I don’t believe in God because he wasn’t there for me when I went through…” Atheists more often than not are angry, expressing resentment, to people that have faith in God. Why? Why would anyone resent something that they don’t believe to exist in the first place? That is what does not make sense as logical or reasonable.
Who is Jesus?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:1-4, 14a (NLT)
John wrote that Jesus was the Word. The original Greek translation for the Word is Logos, meaning the beginning; the creator that is and always was the manifestation of God. When God declared, “Let there be light,” it was Logos that spoke the creation of all things into existence. Jesus was God in the beginning, and is God today and forever.
“We do not want to see God apart from Christ. I am perfectly satisfied to see the Eternal Light through his own chosen medium, Christ Jesus. Apart from that medium, the light might blind my eyes. “No man hath seen God at any time.” Who can look on the sun? What mind can look on God? But Christ does not hide the Father; he manifests him.” —Charles Spurgeon
Jesus, equal with God so far as divine standing and privilege is concerned, humbly laid it all down to be born as a human being of flesh, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. History is in agreement (from the writings of first century historians and archeological evidence) that Jesus lived, was executed on a cross unjustly, that the tomb he said he would vacate was empty the third day after he died, and that his followers, afraid for their lives, came out of hiding over the next days and weeks. They couldn’t wait to tell everyone that they had been in his company post-resurrection. Many would die as martyrs months and years upon declaring their experience with Jesus having risen from the dead.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:4-8 (NLT)
I cannot comprehend it but Jesus, as God, laid down all divine privilege to dwell among us while fully participating in the human condition. He did that with the specific purpose of redeeming each of us, as the ransom for all our sin, so that we can be set free from sin. Jesus died. Then he was resurrected by God the Father and restored to all divine privilege as God. Remember that if God can make life from nothing, then he can certainly raise Jesus from the dead to life. This happened so that we could each be reconciled into the relationship with God that we were made for.
Jesus is alive! It is time to discover what it is to experience relationship with Jesus. It is the experience of relationship with Jesus that is the evidence—the proof—that faith in the unseen is in fact authentic. Jesus stated the following about himself:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4:18 (NLT)
What makes Jesus uniquely qualified to resurrect your life from whatever is that is so overwhelming that you feel consumed by it? What it is about Jesus that allows him to understand our weakness and brokenness in the way that no one else can? Why identify Jesus as the one to deliver, heal, and restore our beings from the inside out when we are broken to pieces?
Jesus, flawless while fully God, somehow gave that up to be entirely human in the flesh. He had human desire, intention, and motivation that allowed for him to be tempted in the same way that you and I are tempted. Jesus understood that he had to depend on God at that time in the same way that we now depend on Jesus to empower us to stand against temptation, rather than giving in to it. Jesus always pursued the will of God while human in the flesh.
We are tempted according to what we believe we want; not necessarily according to our intellectually-rooted core values, but more often than not, motivated by self-centered emotionally-driven behavioral choices that produce, all to often, negative outcomes. Our desires, motivation, and choices are by nature selfish. Then, we act on those choices. Then, we have to live with our choices.
The Bible is telling us that even Jesus, entirely human while in the flesh on earth, also dealt with that internal human struggle. If it were not so, how could he be tempted like you and I are? (I will do a deeper dive into that in just a bit.) Jesus, as a human servant, surrendered his desire and motivation over to the will of God’s ultimate authority and purpose.
Remember that Jesus descended through the heavens as God to earth to experience human imperfection and weakness, starting with every element of temptation to serve himself before others, which would lead to sin. However, fully dependent on his relationship with his heavenly father, whom he called God, Jesus resisted temptation to sin, and remained humble to his calling in all that he would go on to do. Jesus would go to say that any spiritual authority he had as a human being came from God.
We must be sure to never confuse the humility of Jesus with weakness. Even while entirely human in every aspect of his being, he was full of the Spirit of God in his being. Jesus had the full armament of God’s authority alive from within him. It was authority provided by his heavenly father, who Jesus himself referred to as God, to heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, perform miracles, cast out demons, and even bring individuals that died back to life.
Jesus knew his purpose was ultimately to suffer a torturous execution as the sacrifice for sin. Just prior to that, Jesus would be arrested. But not without a show of force of who he was before permitting his captors to take him.
When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. (Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” John 18:1-7 (NIV)
It is written that there could have been hundreds of armed Roman Soldiers and officials who came expecting resistance from what they may have understood to be band of freedom fighters with Jesus of Nazareth. The only resistance from Jesus and a few followers was two words from the man they wanted: “I AM.” The Old Testament includes “I AM” as a name, or description, of God. These two words spoken by a human being, with the full weight of God’s power and authority, put down to the ground a small Roman army. Then Jesus made a demand, “If you want me, let these people go.”
Jesus would go on to be arrested by the same group he had just shown had no power over him. Jesus would go on to die on a cross. In doing so, he had one final thing to say. “It is finished.” For death to take him, death had to let God’s people go. God’s people is you, and it’s me. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that is the fulfillment of our freedom from sin into new life, restored to the living the way we we have meant to live.
Let’s make this personal. If you want to live the life you were made for, if you want Jesus, then you need to be willing to let go of all that burdens you. How do you do that? Keep reading. I’m getting there. But, we’re going to cover some other ground to get there.
Compassionate Healer
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Matthew 27:46 (NLT)
Have you ever felt abandoned by God while living through the most perilous of times, when you felt like you were being crushed under the weight of the overwhelming burden you were carrying? I have. Jesus experienced the same feeling. So distressed by the torture of his circumstance, Jesus wondered aloud where God was. So consumed by his condition, even Jesus did not sense the presence of God, even though God was there with his son.
Though innocent of sin against God and his fellow man, Jesus ultimately paid the price for sin, dying a merciless death on the cross. His experience was a ruthless, relentless persecution until literally being nailed to a wooden structure that he hung from desperate for relief. But the relief never came. While on the cross, perilously burdened by the weight of all sin, and feeling utterly abandoned, beyond recognizing the presence of God, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
You may wonder, why didn’t God intervene? Why didn’t he stop it, so Jesus didn’t have to die? In the case of Jesus, had he not died as the sacrifice for sin, each one of us would be responsible for paying the ultimate price for our own sin. You… me… we are lost, scattered, blown around by the swirling breezes within out circumstances.
You who have been abused, traumatized even, may also wonder, “Why didn’t God intervene when I needed him most; when I suffered trauma by the abuse I endured?” That is the question, isn’t it. I will not pretend that it is a question so easily answered. Why are people allowed to suffer through the trauma of assault, abuse, disease, poverty, oppression, injustice, unexpected tragedy, and so much more?
It might not seem like a satisfactory response, but the reality is that our freedom to choose independently, without interference from God, impacts not only ourselves, but everyone within our circle of influence. So it is that we are impacted by our behavioral choices as well as everyone else when we are within their reach. All people are inclined to be selfish, making up their own minds, with the potential to cause what feels like irreparable harm. Is it possible then that when victimized by someone else’s choice it feels as though God has abandoned you?
Jesus pleaded repeatedly, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.”
Blowing in the wind, misdirected and off course until lost without hope, you were seen from the cross. It is there that you were forgiven, even before you took your first breath and made your first poor decision. Jesus left the throne of his glory to deal with your flawed imperfections and mistakes that have separated you from God.
But when Jesus saw the people, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Matthew 9:36 (NKJV)
It is for that very reason that Jesus came from heaven to live among us. Jesus experienced every temptation we have known. He maintained his innocence from sin by remaining dependent on God’s direction for each and every choice he acted upon. Jesus while a human person of flesh, from the inside out, is our role model for quality living.
As a young adult in his early thirties, Jesus would ultimately experience the full weight of the guilt and shame that comes with the sin of every person who has ever lived when he surrendered his life unto death. Jesus came to experience every form of human weakness, body, mind, and spirit.
This High Priest of ours understands and sympathizes with our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come confidently to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:15-16 (NLT, slightly modified)
So how does the compassion of Jesus sacrificing himself inspire confidence?
“Jesus never did anything halfheartedly. When he embraced our humanity, he didn’t pull a fast one by making a show of it. He embraced it so fully and totally that he was able to die. God can’t die. But Jesus did.” —John Eldredge, author, Beautiful Outlaw
To believers and unbelievers alike, know this: Jesus, fully participating in the human condition while human in the flesh, fully sympathizes with all that you and I struggle with, even the worst of it. Jesus experienced in his mind, body, and soul, every contradiction to the core values that foster freedom. He knew, and knows, what it is to experience trauma, beaten to within an inch of his life while being humiliated, before being nailed to a cross. Jesus experienced in his mind and soul the guilt and shame of every sin ever committed by all who have lived in order to pay the price for it.
Jesus shared fully in the experience of truly being tempted to sin. The difference between Jesus and you and me is that he never gave in to any temptation. Jesus was tempted by means of self-centered human desire, just as we are. It is means by which anyone is tempted to sin. If Jesus did not have human desire in the way that we do with selfish intentions, how would he be tempted to do anything selfish, which is what sin is?
The suffering of Jesus, as he sacrificed himself for the imperfect behavioral decisions of all who have ever lived, was beyond measure or imagination. Jesus did not desire the torture he was soon to endure.
He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39 (NLT)
Jesus had two loves greater than his love of self. His love for God that is holy, set apart from anything we’ve ever known, and his love for each and everyone of us ever made by God to live the life that has always been intended for us. From that place of generous love (again, immeasurable), he suffered and died, contrary to his selfish desires and temptation. Jesus chose to do the will of God.
The Bible is telling us that even Jesus, entirely human while in the flesh on earth, also dealt with that internal human struggle. If it were not so, how could he be tempted like you and I are? (I will do a deeper dive into that in just a bit.) Jesus, as a human servant, surrendered his desire and motivation over to the will of God’s ultimate authority and purpose.
With sympathy comes compassion. Jesus has compassion for the struggle of all who have been tempted. What makes Jesus uniquely qualified as our role model is that he did not give in to selfish temptation. Therefore, Jesus is the only source for empowerment into recovery and restoration from all that befalls us.
Jesus essentially A) admitted what he could not do in his human condition, B) believed in God as the power far greater than himself while entirely human to restore his ability to choose what is best, and C) confessed his need as a human being to depend on divine wisdom to affect his judgment, and committed to turning his human motivation and intentions over to the willful purpose of God, according to what he understood about God, his spiritual father. Jesus needed to trust in what he believed in to experience resurrection into newness of life.
Even Jesus, our role model for living out recovery, confessed that his will while of human flesh was not sufficient against the powerful force of human nature—the inclination to gratify self first. Even Jesus, the son of God in the flesh, confessed his need to pursue and carry out the will of the one who sent him to live among us. This is rather stunning to fully comprehend.
Why is this so important? What’s so important—essential, for that matter—is to identify with the life of Jesus, while entirely human on earth, as the role model for how to live life most freely. Jesus depended on God throughout his human experience. Now, we as human beings must depend on Jesus as our God, walking in lockstep with him, today.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me… “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:1, 6 (NLT)
We all value freedom and want to be free more than anything else. Jesus is the way to freedom in relationship with God. Freedom to live without being overcome by fear. Freedom to love without apprehension. Freedom to trust without the fear of betrayal. Freedom to desire without fearing disappointment. Freedom to rest without ongoing worry. Freedom to be content without the lingering reality that satisfaction is never attainable.
Freedom is experienced by the shedding of the old life, and being clothed in the experience of the new life; a new world in relationship with Jesus, living life as he did in his human experience, dependent on God, not out of religious obligation or duty, but rather, out of necessity for our good.
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” —C.S. Lewis
To enter into that life (“another world”) we first need to admit what we cannot do on our own, believe that we are empowered by faith in Almighty God to live as Jesus did, confess that our intention and motivation in the flesh is not sufficient, and commit to surrendering our own will over to the will of God. We have to trust in what we have come to believe to do this.
What gets in the way is our own problem as human beings. We can know that God’s way is better and best, and yet still, we trust more in what we feel at any given moment, and then in that moment, give in to our impulsive desire for self-gratification. Because of our obsession with discontent, we are always seeking something more and better, according to our emotionally-driven understanding, rather than according to what we know to be the better way—God’s way!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
Set Free (Free from What?)
MEdom suggests that most of what happens in my life is usually about me in one sense or another. We all experience discomfort and tension when stressed within our own discontent internally while triggered by a lifetime’s worth of experiences. The truth is that we typically are far more impacted by harm and pain—the agony of defeat—than the “feel good” impact of reward and pleasure—the thrill of victory.
Defeat can be devastating and can generate an inflated sense of fear. The feeling of victory feels awesome but is typically fleeting, while fear is impactful, agonizing, and too often, dreadful, dragging on as though there is no end to it. The ease and delight of pleasure and reward is far outweighed by the gravity of pain and struggle, and ultimately fear.
Truth is truth whether you believe it or not!
FREEdom from MEdom Project is the exploration of the flawed human condition and what it will take to be restored from being broken and stuck in fear to being made whole again. Just as the universe did not happen randomly by chance, life with all of its complexities was woven into the fabric of creation. Imagine everything that had to go right perfectly for life to be at all possible.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:13-14 (NIV)
There has to be perfect order for the pieces of it all to fit in the way that reveals the portrait of what it is supposed to look like. As things become fragmented in the course of our lives and pieces seem to have fallen away and order is lost, the only way the pieces can be put back together in perfect order, requires the work of the one who made us in the first place.
For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:16-18 (NKJV)
FREEdom from MEdom Project is intended to be a faith-centered recovery resource laying out a pathway to freedom in relationship with God, with the essence of God’s presence residing within your feelings, thoughts, motivation and attitude. It is Jesus alive in you, rearranging what’s been in disorder back into order until the puzzling complexities of our lives fit in ways that make sense to us again.
Confusion, doubt, and disorder was never the intention of God. Because we are not God, he knew we would be self-seeking, which would be a threat to the original order of things. He knew that the pieces would come apart. So God sent his son, Jesus, to us to do what ever was necessary to put us back together again, restoring us into what we were created to be.
To find our way in relationship with God, thank to the sacrifice made by his son, Jesus, is our opportunity to know God to the point of trusting in whom we know. Trusting God changes everything, especially during times of defeat and hardship. All it requires is a relationship with Jesus. Even reading to this point, ask yourself, “What is holding me back from seeking relationship with Jesus?” Seriously, once you accept the reality of victory and freedom to be experienced in relationship with Jesus, how do you not want that? It is most rational decision you will ever make.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. John 14:6, 14, 16-18 (NLT)
Jesus confronted some angry, resentful people subject to generational oppression and slavery, offering to them the truth of restoration through relationship with him as the way to a new and better life; a life that breaks the chains of bondage. This truth would set them free. They responded, “Free from what? When were we ever slaves?” Then Jesus declared, “Anyone who has sinned is a slave to sin.”
Jesus proclaimed, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The people responded, “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” John 8:32-36 (NLT)
We are free to choose for ourselves according to what we believe we want and need. And so is everyone else. So, when we choose poorly, we get hurt and so do others. Jesus is saying that when we trust in what we know about recovery God’s way in relationship with the ultimate giver, it is a life that leads to fulfilling joy. Who wouldn’t want that?
“I began to make excuses… I wanted something to explain away the very real and terrible possibility that God existed and that he wanted something from me. I wanted nothing to do with faith. That changed the night I tried to take my own life. In (my) moment of desperation, I cried out to God: “I never asked to be born! I never asked for any of this!” Never did I imagine that God would answer me. But he did. Even with all of my justifications, I couldn’t deny that I felt something I had never felt before. I felt God— flooded with a peace that to this day, I cannot fully describe.” —Alia Joy
What is sadly unfortunate is when we do not comprehend that God is indeed paying attention, either because we feel unworthy of God’s attention, or that we’re too insignificant to be loved by God, or by anyone, for that matter.
“The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they run the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; everyone knows that something is wrong when they’re being hurt.” —C.S. Lewis
Perhaps we feel misunderstood by others, and judged on some level, even by those we hope would love us most. We may feel judged according to the moral standards of others we perceive we can never live up to. In particular, that may be the case when it comes to our perception of God. “How can I ever live up to God’s moral standard?” So, we may turn away from God while in distress in those times when only God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
“When hardship strikes some people, they will turn away from God. Something bad happens to them that doesn’t make sense, and they conclude there can’t be a God if something like that could happen to them. They turn against Him and essentially find a belief system that accommodates their feelings.” —Pastor Greg Laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship
King David, who most people of faith view as an icon from the Bible, was humbled by the consequences of his own maladaptive thinking and destructive behavior that had crippled his ability to make sober-minded choices. David had been impulsive, reacting to emotionally-charged beliefs, rather than trusting in the sensibility of his faith-centered core values. As it turns out, even David’s perception of God needed a makeover.
O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage!
Your arrows have struck deep, and your blows are crushing me.
Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.
My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear.
My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.
I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief.
A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken.
I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart.
You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh.
My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind.
My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance. Psalms 38:1-11 (NLT)
Have you ever felt like that? I have. These are the words of David. He did things in his adult life that most of us would understand to be so (dare I say) evil, that we could wonder how there was any way he could be forgiven. David, at times, behaved in ways that were misogynistic, adulterous, and in fact, murderous. After all of that, when consumed by real-life consequences, David felt as though he was being punished brutally by God. You can read through his words from Psalms 38 that he had become so sick in his sins that perhaps they extended beyond the reach of God’s mercy.
One who has isolated himself seeks his own desires; then rejects all sound judgment. Proverbs 18:1 (NEV)
David experienced the sensible consequences that come with the choices he made that he acted upon, and then had to live with. David finally surrendered, confessing his faults. He was contrite in his repentance and was reconciled into right relationship with God. Prior to that, he sounds angry with God that he suffered the consequences of his addictive behavior.
People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at God. Proverbs 19:3 (NLT)
We, too, can feel like God is looking down on us in judgment, and that it is inevitable that we will be punished. Instead of trusting in the compassion and love of God to be merciful, we may be inclined, then to seek out a remedy in the form of maladaptive (self-defeating) thinking and behavior, fueled by feelings and beliefs in contradiction to our sensible core values.
“Suffering produces more disbelief than logic does.“ —Pastor Steve Andres, New City Church
When we are thinking more clearly, according to what we know and reasonably understand to be sober-minded thinking; when we trust God in relationship with Jesus, which aligns our belief system with our core values, we ought to be in a healthier place to confess our self-centered sin, turn from it with repentant hearts and minds, and behave accordingly. We will experience the reward of forgiveness, thanks to God’s grace. However, while confession of sin leads to repentance, the experience of the logical outcomes of our sinful behavior is far more typical than not. There will likely be painful discomfort, but with God’s favor comes his strength and comfort.
“We can’t live in a pain-free world, as much as we would like to try. When trouble comes (and it will come), when crisis knocks at your door (and it will knock), you can either become angry at God or turn to Him and trust in Him. Here is your choice in life: you can become better or bitter. It is usually one or the other. When something bad happens, you can say, ‘I am mad at God. I am bitter with God.’ Okay. That is your choice. But you can also say, ‘I am going to trust in God. I am going to cling to God.’ And you will become better as a result. It is really up to you.” —Greg Laurie
When we view God through the lens of how we see ourselves in the darkness of our experience, we tend to shame ourselves, and in turn, believe that God is shaming us as well. There tends to be the capacity to condemn oneself in the process. Experiencing shame for what we have done, and/or damaged by what has been done against us, can lead to feeling unforgivable. We may then reject God, believing that he has rejected us.
Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:20 (NLT)
When a remedy for discomfort adds to our discomfort, we will trend towards pursuing other remedies. When ongoing attempts to relieve suffering have failed us repeatedly, where do we turn for comfort and strength? To whom do we turn for help in our time of need? We would benefit from the loving, gracious, and generous support from someone with the ability and willingness to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
“Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you… The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. God’s love is the only thing like that… You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” —Timothy Keller, author
When we see ourselves through the lens of how we are loved by God, we are free to live in the favor of God’s generosity.
God already knows it all, far better than we do. God knows better than we do. When we see ourselves through the lens of how we are loved by God, especially with the knowledge of what God sacrificed so that we would be free, we may find it far more reasonable to turn towards God, especially when we are hurting badly enough and desperate for something to change.
“We tend to minimize our pain. We tend to mask our pain. We tend to medicate our pain. Jesus understands your pain. He knows your difficulty. But understand this; He will not leave you as you are. He sees you in your brokenness. He sees your difficulty. What you need to know is that Jesus goes right into your pain. He is here to set His people free; to help the blind to see; to heal broken hearts. God is the pathway to freedom.” —Marty Sloan
A stronghold by definition is “a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack.” It is a belief system so strongly reinforced that we stake our very being in the security of its truth; or at least, how we perceive it to be true. However, since these strongholds we hold so firm to are products of self-centered deception, our justifications for how we process decisions are fortresses against the very truth that sets us free and hold us captive to repeat our choices, no matter the cost.
We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NLT)
I want what is best for me and those around me but cannot seem to arrive where I need and desire to be. So, then I settle for less and convince myself that it will do. What is it that I want and value most… more than anything?
The opposite of the fear that comes from giving in to irrational beliefs requires faith in something (someone) bigger and better to deliver us from fear into faith in relationship with God. At FREEdom from MEdom Project, you will have opportunity to learn that restoration into a new life experience be realized in the experience of recovery that truly makes sense.
The first time you encounter Jesus Christ it may feel as though Santa Claus has landed on the roof of your life. It might just shake you up a bit… in a good way. Something you heard about a long time ago turns out to be the real deal. It might even scare you when your deliverer does something in your time of trouble you did not at all.
“When you repent, you are not defined by your falling. You are defined by your rising. Let repentance do its work in you. (Tell yourself) I’m defined by my rising, not by my falling.” —Steve Andres
You are encouraged to enter into recovery God’s way, just as Jesus did while fully human, wrought with human temptation, struggle, and intense heartache. Just as Jesus understood it, you need to ADMIT what you’re incapable of; that on your own you’re in trouble and need help. You need to BELIEVE that you can hear from God to judge rightly in your choices. Now be encouraged to COMMIT to your recovery just as Jesus did his; surrendering your will into the will of God; God’s will is to bless you with his best for your best. Why would you live any other way? Jesus himself laid out the plans for your redemption; to be reconciled and restored back into right relationship with God; living in the experience of his love.
Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
“The only way for the soul to be free is for all the parts of our personhood to be rightly ordered. The deeper freedom — the freedom that the soul needs — is the freedom for becoming the person I was designed to be.” —Dr. John Ortberg
Justice through Forgiveness
Your sin has been removed from your past, present, and future. The stone keeping you in bondage has been rolled away. Resurrection from hopeless to healed is yours. Deliverance from pain into peace is yours. Step out from shame and despair, leaving behind the toxic waste. Step into the awesome aroma that is freedom into new life.
For you and me the gavel of the judge was replaced by the cross of Jesus Christ who took the punishment for my sin. It is Jesus who declares me—and you—innocent of all charges. Jesus sacrificed everything to have relationship with us.
You must understand that God has not sent his Son into the world to pass sentence upon it, but to save it—through him. Any man who believes in him is not judged at all. John 3:17 (PHILLIPS)
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 (NLT)
When we confess our mistakes, asking God for grace to forgive us, he no longer holds our selfish sin against us; he doesn’t even see it. He extends to the one who is contrite and repentant his mercy since the debt for sin has been paid in full through Christ’s sacrifice. God has blessed us with his Spirit; his divine presence is alive and active within our changed minds; renewed as we give ourselves to this transformative process. God is alive in our souls, guarding feelings and guiding thoughts, directing our way. However, God knows we don’t always appreciate our freedom; drawn by the seductive lure of self-indulgent folly. If we don’t surrender to the promise and process into new life, giving into temptation, we face yet again the logical consequence that comes with selfish, impulsive behavioral choices. We are not immune to the reasonable expectations linked to reckless behavior.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” John 5:14 (NIV)
It’s not that God is judging my behavior, so much as it is Jesus alive within me helping me to think more sensibly before I do something foolish that jeopardizes the freedom experienced through restoration and renewal. In relationship with Jesus, while I know my eternity is secure, to return to behavior connected to pain, comes pain. When temptation comes knocking, captivity is on the other side of the door. So, just as I would be grateful if someone kept me from something bad happening, or about to happen, I am grateful that God does the same for me. I sense when something isn’t write. There is conviction of conscience. It is a detectable warning of clear and present danger. It is also what a healthy relationship is all about.
When you come to know Jesus in relationship with him, it not a one-time experience. It reassuring to know that Jesus is consistent because he loves you undeniably without condition. Instead of being defined by your past, having turned from away from the burden of sin and shame, you are defined by the grace of God. You are seen by God as a son, or daughter. God loves you just like that. Remember, God’s presence is always with you, behind you, ahead of you, around you, and within you.
God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble to an open place of freedom. Job 36:16 (NCV)
The Bible declares that Jesus lived fully in the condition of human drama, as well as immeasurable trauma, that for him was so distressing and all consuming that we are told that he sweat blood from his pores. Jesus experienced betrayal, rejection, ridicule (even from his closest friends and family), and finally, extreme persecution. Jesus experienced immeasurable and unimaginable challenges throughout his human experience outside of divine privilege. There is nothing you can tell Jesus about your challenges that he cannot relate to on some level by way of his own human experience. Nothing… I mean, NOTHING… is too big for Jesus.
As you have read, while fully participating in the human condition—no exemptions—Jesus lived on earth entirely dependent on God; empowered in his relationship with God. His life on earth is the standard; the model of recovery from our common problem of discontent that gives birth to selfish sin. Jesus is alive! He is God. Jesus is the person of God we most easily identify with. Jesus is our access to all that is God. He is the one we trust and rely on. The gift of relationship with Jesus never wavers. It never changes. It’s light is constant and eternal.
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17 (NLT)
Positive change in your life can be upsetting and hurt before it feels better. Ironic, isn’t it, since destructive self-soothing behavior feels good before it hurts and becomes harmful (even dangerous). Recovery into positive change typically feels painful en route to feeling better, stable, and more at ease. Therefore, there might be a sense of reservation about positive behavioral change.
So, rather than dispute that a conditioned belief is irrational, leading to increased discomfort, there is this notion that something does not yet hurt badly enough to change one’s behavior, while only contemplating in the midst of your suffering the need to change it. Instead of enduring the discomfort and uneasiness that can come along with positive change, it seems easier to settle for something less than all out necessary change. It is settling for half-measured behavioral change that is insufficient. Until sufficient behavioral change is activated, whether it feels better at the outset or not, the discomfort lingers and growing in severity until it hurts badly enough to finally do something about it.
If that was too wordy, then here some clarity on the matter: When it comes to behavioral change, half-measures prove to be ineffective and non-productive. It is full on behavioral change that makes the difference towards sustained recovery into sobriety from maladaptive behavior; the sophisticated expression for sin.
FREEdom from MEdom Project exists to inspire hope within hurting people to find healing and redemption through recovery God’s way into the best of a new life experience. Life is meant to be enjoyed by way of relationship. Relationship is meant to be experienced freely, from a place of stability and love. But sadly, relationships are so often constricted by disharmony and conflict that distort the genuine values and intentions. Instead of love that is fearless and free, fear (the opposite of free) is the crippling reality of how relationships are too often experienced. Crippled by fear, we cannot seem to move from it we are stuck in our misery.
Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” John 2:5-6 (NKJV)
FREEdom from MEdom Project intends to challenge you to address how you’ve interpreted life experiences that have wrought within you irrational beliefs that have dysregulate your behavioral process by fueling emotion, shaping values, and driving behavior. It is realizing the truth that we are slaves to anything that controls me and, no matter how hard I try to do right, because I am a slave to the sin that controls me, I inevitably do wrong. What that means is that we are conditioned from birth to pursue all that elicits the most immediate gratification, controlled by impulse.
Please continue on to the solution by advancing to the solution to the human dilemma by clicking on, C: Confess my need for God and choose to commit my will and my life over to the care of God by trusting in what I believe.
Written by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project
