Jesus once told the crowds that gathered around him something that would either unite them or divide them. These words of Jesus still hold the same power for people today because they cause us to make a choice concerning them and Him. He said: “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:3132). Over my many years as a disciple of Jesus I have learned that these truths that he spoke of are in fact wide and broad in their understanding of life yet they funnel down to one result, “freedom”. Today I would like to share with you just one of these truths I’ve learned and the freedom that I’ve experienced through it.

In the beginning. What a powerful place to start. The Bible tells us that it was God who created us, in His image; an image that would bring glory to God because it would magnify who He is. It would demonstrate his primary characteristic as a God of love and his desire to share that love with His creation through the beauty of his provision and the guidance of a living and intimate relationship with the first couple, Adam and Eve. We all know that we cannot force another person to love us. Love is a choice, not only with each other but with God as well.

Everything looked great in the beginning until the enemy of God convinced Eve that God was trying to hold out on her, that God was afraid of the freedom she lived in and he could not be trusted. We all know how the rest of that story went and the outcome of how it has impacted not only Adam and Eve but all of humanity ever since then.

When I read this account in the Bible it tells me that God created both Adam and Eve and that they were naked, and that they had no shame. In other words this first couple were able to be themselves with each other and with God. They were transparent, nothing was hidden, nothing blocked the intimacy of their relationship with each other.

Yet the enemy of God was able to plant seeds of doubt which became seeds of rebellion and brokenness.

When God went looking for Adam and Eve he went to the garden he had given them, to walk and talk with them but they were hiding.

They explained that they were naked and afraid, something they had never experienced before. God

asked them a simple question, “who told you that you were naked?”

What a question!

By causing them to question God’s love for them they stepped away from the one who is meant to answer our most primal and intimate question. Am I loveable? Or am I ok? The enemy of God had been successful at breaking the flow of an intimate relationship where God’s unconditional love connects us. He was able to replace that connection with doubt, shame and fear. We look to other people, our spouses, to our work, to our performances of many kinds and when we fail to our addictions to cover the shame. The truth I’ve learned through all this is that through Jesus the intimate relationship with God has been restored and that I no longer have to live in the lie the enemy has kept me in bondage with. I am now free to live intimately with the one who loves me unconditionally and speaks that message deep into my heart. Truth equals freedom!

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Paul Watkins is pastor of Church of the Nazarene, Monroe.