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If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Willie Williams spent twenty-two years in a Georgia prison for a crime he didn’t commit. When he was exonerated by DNA evidence, he was set free. Of course, he was beyond happy with his freedom. But he also struggled to get used to it. He didn’t feel free. For a long time, he woke up at three o’clock in the morning and looked around to see if he was still in prison. Sure enough, though, he really was free.

Freedom is a precious gift. It is an undeserved gift because we commit crimes, sins, against our Creator. We came into this world as prisoners of sin and held captive by the eternal death we deserved.

But Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has set us free. Jesus allowed our sin to pin him down on the cross. He allowed our death to entomb him. He broke out of our prison when he died and rose again from death. We are free! Free indeed!

You may not feel very free. Do your daily temptations threaten to enslave you? Do your daily problems make you feel trapped? Do your fears and worries box you in and paralyze you? Do you look ahead to the end of life and feel death’s walls closing in?

Don’t be fooled by your feelings. Listen to what the Son promises you—he has set you free. You are free: Free indeed!

Sin has no more power to condemn—you are forgiven. Temptation has no more power to control you—Jesus is always with you. Death has no more power to terrify you—Jesus lives again, and so will you.

Willie Williams had to keep reminding himself that he really was free.

So do you. You may not feel free, but through Jesus, you are. Free indeed! And one day, in heaven, you’ll feel it fully: no sin, no problems, no temptations, no fear, no death.

Until then, trust what the Son tells you: you are free. Free indeed!

Dear Lord Jesus, since you have set me free, I am free indeed! Thank you! Help me to trust that this gift of freedom is really mine. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.