| July 2nd, 2015

The Price of Freedom

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Freedom is not free.

I am thankful to be a part of a ministry that serves, among other trauma victims, veterans and their families. In our work we hear how the experience of war impacts the daily lives of those who’ve served in freedom’s cause. Many of the families we serve are still paying freedom’s price as they move on through life without their spouse, parent, child or sibling.

As we prepare to enjoy another celebration of Independence Day with family and friends, I honor those who have paid the price for the freedom enjoyed in this nation. Veterans and their families are held in high regard in my heart.  Thank you!

The Cost of Personal Freedom

Within this great free country, most of us are living without personal freedom. Although some segments of our society live in modern day slavery and oppression, most of us fail to live in personal freedom from forces within us.

We want to connect well with our wives and children, achieve success in our workplace, lead well in our churches, and live out Biblical principles. But something inside of us keeps us from doing it. And personal freedom is elusive and absent.

When we really go for it, our internal dialogue tells us some version of these lies about selves:

  • You’re not good enough.
  • You don’t have what it takes.
  • You’re broken, defective.
  • You don’t matter.
  • You’re not valued or worthy.
  • You love wrong.
  • You are bad, evil.
  • You’re a coward, wimp.

And over and over again, we act on them. We believe them and feel them. They end up driving us to do the things we don’t want to do, or keep us from doing the things we most want to do.   It may very well be the thing Paul was speaking of in Romans 7.

Personal freedom has a price. Freedom to truly live out who I am as a person is costly. Freedom to move into the actions that create the relationships that I deeply want is expensive.

The Truth Will Set You Free

Jesus said, “… truth will set you free (John 8:32).” In the Crucible Project community, we believe that truth is essential to uncovering freedom and grace. That it is being true with God, yourself and others that makes living free possible. To build the relationships that we want at the core of our souls, we must first pay the price for freedom.

“Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.”

― Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Becoming aware of the internal dialogue and facing truth about the things that I hide, repress and deny is painful. Owning the dark places in my heart hurts. Discovering things about myself that God, my wife and others have known for years is distressing.

Owning my stuff requires me to give up my ego and my posing. It requires me to take off the mask that everything is OK. In order to have the personal freedom to truly be me, I must face my relationships, workplace and church with honesty and truth.   And it might very well have costly consequences.

Jesus paid the price for our freedom from sin. It is there for the taking, if we are willing to pay the price of facing truth. Those who have experienced the misery of truth have found it uncovers something so incredibly powerful for them: the scandalous grace of our savior, Jesus.

On The Crucible Project Weekends, I love to be apart of helping men pay the price of facing truth. It is how they uncover God’s grace in a way that they never have before. There they find personal freedom to live in the passion, power and purpose that God always intended for them.

I am thankful for the men who sacrificed for the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. And I am thankful for the men who helped me face the pain of truth so that I could unleash freedom that allows me to be the man God has called me to be in my home, workplace, church and community. Thank you!

– By Roy Wooten

Roy completed his initial Crucible weekend in 2009 and has been the longtime leader of The Crucible Project community in Houston. Roy and his wife Devra have led over 135 of their Life Together Forever Couples Weekends and are the authors of The Secret to Lifetime Love: Speaking and Hearing Truth. He also authored Full Throttle Into Fatherhood and is the Executive Director of Shield Bearer Counseling Centers in Houston, Texas. Follow Roy at LifeTogetherForever.com.

 

Photo Credit: Flickr.com