Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24-25 ESV)

Freedom is found in relationship, not rules. (7:24-25) “Who will set me free”, Notice that Paul does not ask, “What” will set me free. He is not espousing a new technique. He is not suggesting that the 12 steps will free someone from the abuse of alcohol. No! His very question reveals his beginning point: freedom comes from a relationship, not a set of rules. “Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The one who can set us free is Jesus. He is not a program, He is a person. He is not a new technique, He is a new life giver.

Freedom is an inside job. Your environment does not determine your freedom. Circumstances do not bring you freedom, nor do they take freedom away. You can recite Bible verses, cut off every influence from the outside world possible, but unless Jesus comes and cuts the cords of sin away, you will stand there face to face with your own stinking sin nature and be a miserable wretch. The answer is found in a person, not a program.

In January, 2008, a story made the rounds about a 15-year-old girl in Australia named Demi-Lee Brennan. Brennan became the world’s first known transplant patient to change blood types from O negative to O positive, taking on the immune system of her organ donor. At first the doctors assumed someone had made a mistake, because it’s always been assumed that a change like that can’t happen. Now they say she’s a “one-in-six-billion miracle.”

The blood stem cells in Brennan’s new liver invaded her body’s bone marrow, taking over her entire immune system. She now has an entirely different kind of blood—blood that welcomes life, rather than carrying death. “It’s like my second chance at life,” Brennan says.

Jesus Christ is the second chance on life that will change your life. When you put your faith in Him, He will change you from the inside out!  In other words, it’s who you know, not what you know that counts. Freedom is found in relationship. Our Father-God is the creator of the universe. He made us. He knows our hearts better than we. And he longs for us to live lives of freedom. He longs for us to be free.