True Freedom

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

(John 8:32)

This week we celebrate Independence Day, or the more familiar term of The Fourth of July.  The celebration commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.  The day will be replete with parades, stars and stripes, fife and drums, and of course good old hot dogs and burgers.  We will celebrate America’s freedom – but will we celebrate our own personal freedom?

So where am I headed with this, you ask?  Allow me to explain.  Have you ever noticed that in the bible no one had a last name?  People were identified by their place of origin like Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene, or Mary of Magdalene.  People with a first name, but no last name.  Simply the name of their hometown attached to them.  So, stop a moment and think of the name of the town you grew up in.  How would you like to be known all your life as __________ of (your hometown)?  Because of this, when a woman married in biblical times, she did not get a new last name.  When you think about it, this must have been a bit confusing.  “Oh, are you Mary of Toledo, or Mary of Detroit, or perhaps you’re Mary of Bigfoot, Texas?”  Aren’t you grateful that is one thing we still don’t practice from biblical times?

But there is a sad and depressing way that many of us still cling to this practice.  Many go through their lives identified, marked, and labeled by the place they resided in their past.  And I’m not talking about a physical local.  I’m talking about residing in all the mistakes, sins, and regrets that happened in our past.  Some of us could easily go around and say, “Hi, I’m Mary from my sin of ___________;” or “I’m Mary who did the stupid thing of ________________________ 20 years ago.”  Not much freedom to celebrate in that, is there?

So, Jesus Christ came with the power to break that oppressive past.  To break out of the old and into the new.  Jesus was called “Yeshua min N’tzeret” or “Jesus of Nazareth.”  That’s why his first followers were referred to as “the Nazarenes.”   They were “Mary the Nazarene” or “Sam the Nazarene” or “George the Nazarene.”  In other words, though last names were not the fashion at that point, Christ’s followers were no longer known by the location of their past.  They were known by their relationship to Jesus Christ. 

When we live our life in Christ, we are no longer marked or bound by our past.  That’s because when we give our heart to Christ, we also give him our past.  All the parts of it.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  Our past literally belongs to Jesus.  And……now here’s the best part – his name belongs to us.  So, celebrate the independence of America this week, but don’t forget to celebrate your greater independence from your past.

                                                           Darlene