Freedom

Later, they returned to visit the grave, but couldn't find it. Their search led them back to the priest and, of course, they asked him what had happened to the grave. The priest told them that during the night he was unable to sleep. So he got up and moved the fence to include the dead soldier.

And so it is with God. He was not able to sleep, so to speak, until He had made a way for the unlovely and unworthy to be included in His gracious love. In point of fact, He not only moved the fence that separates, He destroyed the barrier altogether.

One scene that haunts me is a picture from Dachau. Sadly we know this one's true.

I visited there about 20 years ago. Above the entryway to the concentration camp were the words, Arbeit macht frei. The same thing stood above the camp at Auschwitz. It means, "work makes free." Work will liberate you and give you freedom.

It was a lie, a terrible false hope. The Nazis made the people believe hard work would equal liberation, but the promised "liberation" was horrifying suffering and death.

Arbeit macht frei. One reason that phrase haunts me is because it is the spiritual lie of this age. It's a religious lie. It's a false hope, an impossible ideal. So many people believe their good works will be great enough to outweigh their bad works. Or they do all they can and believe God will make up the difference. That's their idea of grace.

Just this week I heard a guy say, "We're already living in eternity." That's a great thought, one I fully agree with. But then he confused it by saying, "So let's do our part to make sure we're saved in the end." What a sad and contradictory idea. We're already living in eternity, by grace. "Our part" is to accept that gift and live in faith as free people. Obedience (often called good works) is what naturally follows. Good works don't "make sure." They are just the fruit of what's been planted in our hearts.

Arbeit macht frei. It is the hope of every false religion. But it's the love of God that liberates. It's the grace given freely in Jesus Christ that liberates. He got up one night an took the fence down.

I am free.