If Christ sets you free, you will be truly free.

"If Christ sets you free, you will be truly free" John 8 : 36

Nowadays, we talk a lot about individual freedom.

Freedom to think, freedom to be who we want to be, freedom to choose.

Individual freedom seems to be at the heart of all debates, and everyone, according to their own definition, is ready to fight for it, no matter the cost.

As a French woman, the freedom to choose is promised to me.

"It's my body, it's my choice," the freedom to start a business, the freedom to think and have my own opinions; after all, I live in the country of Enlightenment and great thinkers.

Free! I am free to be who I want, what I want, when I want, and where I want.

"Liberty, equality, fraternity," this French motto, these words that perfectly resonate with our thirst for freedom and justice.

But despite these freedoms that, in our Western societies, seem perfectly normal and fundamental, are we truly free?

Let us think about it.

When we think about freedom, our thoughts don't necessarily turn to God first. Even less to religion.

Yet, there is a verse in the Bible that, in my opinion, defines this notion of freedom so much better than all our contemporary ideologies. It is found in the second epistle of Peter:

"They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them."

People are slaves to whatever has mastered them. I find these words so powerful and true.

Am I truly free?

When I act in this or that way, am I free, or do I let fear, anger, or suffering drive me and push me in this or that direction? What really dictates my behavior?

When I watch violence or pornography, am I truly free to do what I do, am I free to stop?

Am I free in my thoughts, or do my thoughts dominate me like an incessant torment?

We could ask ourselves endless questions.

Yes, it's true, we have a hard time associating God with freedom because religion imposes constraints like "you shall not do this," "you shall not do that," and we distance ourselves from God because we want to be free.

When I was a teenager and young adult, although I always had believed in God, I nonethess wanted to do what was forbidden. I wanted to be free, to make my own experiences, and that's normal when growing up.

It seemed to me that God wanted to frustrate me, that His commandments would prevent me from truly living, in the full dimension I aspired to. So I multiplied experiences of all kinds to enjoy my life as I saw fit without paying attention to the advice I could read in the Bible.

Yet, over the years, I realized that I was less and less free. I was dominated by anxieties, I had thoughts that I could no longer control and that, it seemed to me, did not come from me. But I did not make the connection with what I was experiencing or the choices I was making.

When, at some point, people prayed for me to be freed from all this, the peace I felt and the freedom that followed allowed me to understand two essential truths for me:

God wants my well-being, His commandments are not burdensome because they have a purpose. To protect and keep me in freedom.

It's paradoxical, isn't it?

God's commandments, which may appear to us as a loss of freedom at first glance, are actually the key to being and remaining free.

Free in our thoughts, free in our actions, free from the gaze and judgment of others, free from hatred and resentment, free to forgive, free to undertake without fear, despite failures, free from the dictates of society.

Finally, free to be oneself, as God intended, in all the potential that God has placed and sees in us.

For me, the list could go on endlessly, and it's a breath of fresh air with each enumeration.

Yes, if Christ sets me free, I am truly free!