Freedom that Matters : A Biblical Paradigm
- Part 3 -

RT Johnson Raih *

3. People who live a Transparent Life without Guilt and Fear

A life tortured by guilt and accused by one's conscience is a hell. Many people are afraid to face their past, their present and their future. It is so because a guilty conscience is a hidden enemy and needs no accuser. Seneca (Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman and Dramatist) once said that every guilty person is his own hangman. In fact, from the body of one guilty deed a thousand ghostly fears and haunting thoughts advance. The Bible teaches that if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God (I John 3: 21).

People who live in fear and guilt live in the cover of darkness and are afraid to come out to light. Some fear for the wrong they have committed while some not necessarily out of their own choice and fault. Jesus was talking about this when he said, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God (John 3: 19-21). Jesus encouraged people to live a life of transparency and walk in the light as he is in the light (I John 1: 7).

An experience was narrated by a man that his wife had a symptom of some cancer in the womb. Because the doctor was out of station they could not investigate the matter quickly and so they had no clue whether it was a serious problem or a preventable case. The unconfirmed sickness and fear began to eat them up steadily. The wife began to say farewell words to the family and had stopped eating food and taking proper sleep.

The BP shot up and had to be admitted to the hospital immediately. But after the investigation was done and the report taken, the result was that it was not a cancer. Not getting the medical opinion quickly and living in darkness brought a lot of confusion and fear. But living in the light and transparency drove away the fear.

There is also a story of a young man who wrote in the article, 'Secret Guilt' that after living a reckless and licentious life, he feared of being HIV positive for over a decade until he got himself checked and ruled out the fear. He wrote, "I feared every skin infection to be the indication of the beginning of my endless nightmare."

His guilt for ten or more years took away all the joy and smile in his life. His guilt was cancerous because it had penetrated into other aspects of life; identity, studies, relationship with the family and friends, and others. A life of hiding is truly a life lived in bondage. A thief is always on the run and hiding, and the life of an underground or terrorist are never at rest. They are always on the move and hiding. It is a life fearing to be exposed. William Shakespeare supports this view by saying that suspicion always haunts the guilty mind and the thief doth fear each bush an officer.

There is a story told of a brother and his elder sister who went to Grandpa's house for vacation in the hills. On the day of their arrival the boy accidentally killed one of grandpa's chickens. Fearing the chiding, the brother quickly hid and buried the chicken. Unfortunately, for him instead of comfort and good advice from his sister, who was a witness to the incident, she blackmailed the brother into getting up early every morning to make fire (with wood) for breakfast or else she might report the incident to their grandfather.

The grandfather's frantic search for the missing chicken everyday did not encourage the boy to confess his crime either. And so he had to get up early everyday to make fire while his sister enjoyed some extra minutes of rest. When the brother refused to get up some days she would say, 'if you don't get up I will report what you did to grandpa.'

Almost without thinking and sometimes even before she could complete her sentence he would jump up from his bed and go to the kitchen. As his holiday had been filled with blackmailing and guilt, he thought it would be better to tell his grandpa what he really did and seek forgiveness. Mustering courage he approached his grandfather and confessed all what he did and the consequent actions of his sister every morning.

His grandfather smiled back and said unto him, "Grandson, I saw what you did that evening because I was at the terrace. I had forgiven you before you came to seek my forgiveness but you never came to me to confess and therefore you never made the forgiveness your own. You chose to live with your guilty conscience without any need. I wanted to teach you that there is no benefit in living a life of hiding for it is only self-destructive."

The grandson was so stunned and was filled with tears. He was at once so happy for his new found freedom but also so angry with himself for the delay in receiving that forgiveness which was already there. The next time the sister blackmailed him you know how he must have responded. Satan blackmails us with the sin that we have committed.

Satan makes us afraid to live and face tomorrow because of the mistakes we have done yesterday. Satan tells us that our sins cannot be forgiven. Satan tells us that we have reached a point of no return, no hope! He tells us that we are too wicked before a holy God who demands perfection. Many people become a victim to this lie and choose to live in darkness all their life.

We don't need to let this Liar who is the 'Father Below' (C.S. Lewis gave Satan this name) win. We know that Jesus Christ forgave the thief who was on his right side and took him to Paradise with him because that thief was willing to face his mistakes and sin head on and open his heart for the light of God to penetrate and cleanse him.

Malcolm Muggeridge (English Journalist and Author) once said, "Psychiatrists require many sessions to relieve a patient of guilt feelings which have made him sick in body and mind; Jesus' power of spiritual and moral persuasion was so overwhelming that he could produce the same effect just by saying: Thy sins be forgiven thee." I believe that the purpose of being guilty is to draw us to God. Once we reach there, its purpose is completed. If we continue to accuse ourselves than that is sin in itself. Do you have anything to settle with man or God? Better face the truth and live freely than tell a lie and live as a slave to your own lie. Living a transparent and a forgiven life is the best life on earth. No wealth, money power, bank balance, house and fame can buy this state of mind.

In the final analysis, it is not the external and physical aspect of freedom that matters but the internal and the spiritual which people may not see or know. A prisoner in the jail after reconciling with God may be living a life of freedom because he has forgiven himself as God had forgiven him his crimes. A person who has been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS either by his licentious living, infected blood transfusion or through his parents may have forgiven himself or them for the present predicament and have accepted the situation by finding peace in God.

The social stigma may not bother them anymore. But some because of prejudice and holier than thou attitude may be living in the cave dug up by themselves. Many people who live outside the four walls of the prison may still be living in the prison rooms designed by themselves because of hatred and unforgiving nature.

This exactly was what German poet Bertolt Brecht said, "A person can be free even within prison walls. Freedom is something spiritual. Whoever has once had it, can never lose it. There are some people who are never free outside a prison. The body can be bound with chains, the spirit never. One's thoughts are free."

Another aspect to this concept is that people who are quick to condemn others of their sin but who do not themselves receive forgiveness of sin themselves may be living with spiritual cancer in their lives. As we draw closer to the Independence Day celebration it may be fitting for our minds to ponder upon this spiritual aspect of freedom. Let me end with what Oswald Chambers (Prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian Minister and Teacher) once said, "We are only free when the Son sets us free; but we are free to choose whether or not we will be made free." Do you have with you this freedom that matters?

Concluded ....