“I’m Free Now!”

It was a horrifying story that captured the attention of the nation. Three young women were held captive in a basement in Cleveland, Ohio, for ten years, enduring treatment no person should ever be subjected to.

When one of them was finally able to speak to a 911 operator, she said, “I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for ten years. And I’m here. I’m free now.” It is difficult to imagine the emotions experienced during that phone call.

After ten years of misery, the young women would now be liberated.* When a group of hostages was taken in Lebanon in the late 1980s, the news media kept the world regularly updated on their situation, and governments applied continual pressure in an effort to have the hostages freed. In contrast, these young women— prisoners, not hostages —were presumed dead and languished in horrible conditions for a decade. But now they were free! Freedom is the gift that Jesus came to give to the world. The gift of salvation makes us free. Paul wrote, “Having been set free from sin, … you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).

John 8:36 says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” And Paul urged the Galatians to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Galatians 5:1). Through Jesus, we are free, no longer the captive of sin, no longer the prisoner of the tyrant, self. We are no longer under the death sentence that awaits those who choose to be separate from God.

Thank God those young women were freed from such a terrible situation. While we can only imagine the joy they must have felt, we can experience a similar joy. Do you rejoice for the freedom you have through Jesus, or has the thrill of liberty lost its luster? Christ has truly liberated us from the worst sort of prison, a prison that robs us of our eternal freedom. Be grateful to God for the freedom you have through Jesus.