THE LONGING FOR FREEDOM
“In November, 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail.”
Luke 18:41"What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." 42 Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."
The unnamed, begging, blind man, had a deep longing for freedom. Freedom from blindness would also free him from begging! No one wants to be blind and no one wants to beg. Our incredibly intelligent convicts in the story, were also blind. Blind in the sense that they were digging in the dark. Yet, they believed they were tunneling the right way according to their keen sense of direction! (There is a way that seems right to a man but the end is destruction! See Prov. 16:25)
In the heart of all of us, there is an innate desire for freedom. I remember well the first time I began to feel this longing, was in my early teens. I passionately pursued doing what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, as much as I wanted to do it, as long as I wanted to do it! Rebellion is an easier way to say it. In my search for freedom, I became a slave to drugs and alcohol and a sinful lifestyle. I was tunneling my way blindly to Hell, the ultimate and eternal confinement! In the incredible mercy of God, 41 years ago, Jesus took this blind man’s hand and began to lead him out the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of His grace!
Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.
You and I will never experience true freedom apart from following Jesus! I have learned that my inability to see the way I should go makes me dependent on Jesus to lead me. In trusting and following Him I will always enjoy the fullest measure of freedom that my heart so longs for! May I suggest that you take His hand, if you haven’t already and enjoy this abundant and eternal life that Jesus has paid so much for you to have!
Every blessing!
—Tom