The Truth Will Set You Free
by Frank Worthen
“If you abide in My Word, hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31,32 Amp.)
MISUNDERSTANDING GOD: God is a God of order. One has only to read the elaborate descriptions of temple worship to see that God gives us instructions and then expects them to be obeyed to the letter. God is not pleased when we think we know better than Him. In the book of Joshua, we see Achan disregarding God’s instructions and taking to himself forbidden treasure. God judged him and the whole tribe for his actions. We are often like Achan, holding on to things from our old lifestyle, effectively blocking the process of change.
God is both severe and merciful. (Rom. 11:22) In the 19th Century we often heard about His severity, in the 20th Century we have heard more about His mercy. They are two sides of the same God. God thinks differently from us. He is not pleased when we put words in His mouth. He has told us many things, yet, He has not told us everything. Mysteries remain and man is very prone to place his wisdom in these gaps. It is easiest to have a black and white view of God. Either God is merciful and does not require us to follow rules, or God is all rules without mercy. Neither is true of God. We simply must live with a God who believes in both, even if we do not fully understand how He combines the two.
A WORD OF WARNING: God gives us the desires of our heart. To most that sounds like a very good thing and it is. If your heart’s desire is for marriage and family, you stand a good chance of seeing that desire fulfilled. The down side is that God will give you over to wickedness if that is the desire of your heart.
AMBIVALENCE: Most of us fall somewhere between a desire for righteousness and a desire for evil. Following God is sometimes seen as boring, unrewarding and a life of denial, whereas the opportunity for wickedness is often right before us, with the prospect of immediate gratification. If we choose the way of immediate gratification, we must invent a victim status for our lives so that we can justify to ourselves and others our right to engage in sin. If our sob story is convincing enough, we will have a group of people who encourage us to accept our sinful nature as a god-given, in-born identity. “Surely, we can’t expect anyone to deny the way God made them.” These people are like the false prophets of old who reassured the people that God certainly would not destroy them and His temple: “Peace! Peace!” they cried, but there was no peace. There would indeed be a penalty for their sin and disregard for God.
THE MYSTERY OF CHANGE: It is difficult to make hard and fast statements about change. God works differently in each person, but there are some common denominators. Initially, it seems miraculous that we are able to put an end to acting out sexually. This seems like a giant step towards victory. But, after a while, we become accustomed to our new way of life and are looking toward the next step, an end to our same-sex attraction. This problem is not so easily dealt with. This is a process that will take years to resolve. It is during this time that many fall away, going back to the gay lifestyle and becoming very discouraged with the change process.
STRAY: I call this long wilderness period “stray”. It is a time when we are neither straight nor gay. It is a transitional period. It is a very difficult period to get through and we will never emerge from this desert unless we are obedient to the voice of the Lord. It is here that the GREAT PARADOX begins. When we surrender our will to the Lord and allow Him to lead, we will make it through. It is only when we say: “I will follow the Lord even if He never changes me” that we discover change happens. Sadly, we all have our own agenda, our own view as to how long this should take and what God must do for us, but we must release all our expectations to God.
NO BARGAINING WITH GOD: God does not take kindly to bargaining. We cannot say to God: “I will give you one year, five years, or whatever and if you don’t change me then I am going back to the lifestyle”. God demands complete surrender. He makes the demands; we in turn do not have the right to make demands on Him. We must give everything to God, holding nothing back; what He returns to us is His business. He will never return to us anything that will harm us. Other things He will return to us sanctified. Your same-sex attraction may be returned to you as a deep love and compassion for other men (women) trapped in homosexuality. Rather than seeing them as sex objects, you will now see them as people who have lost their way.
“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE”: It is so easy to disconnect these words from the rest of the sentence. This whole concept begins with the word “If”. If you abide in My word, If you hold fast to my teachings, If you are truly My disciples, THEN you will be set free. If we hold to the false belief that just knowing about God is enough to bring immediate change, this just isn’t so. The road out of homosexuality is long and difficult and requires obedience to the Lord. What does God expect of you? You will find the answers as you abide in His word. Some of the things are: “Come out from among them, and separate, sever yourselves from them, touch not any unclean things” (2 Cor. 6:17). “Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery, which you once put off” (Gal. 5:1). “No-one who put his hand to the plow and looks back to the things behind, is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Pro. 26:11). “How can you live in sin any longer?” (Rom. 6:2). “We should no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:6). “Evil companions corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). These are just a few of the Scriptures that will keep you on the road towards victory.
Jesus says “If” you are truly My disciples. A disciple obediently follows, he is not rebellious, he does not have his own agenda, but fits into his Master’s agenda. Jesus says we are to love our Master, not to find fault with Him. We are to believe in Him. But what is belief? There are many definitions of belief. Both the words belief and faith are just one word in the Greek; that word is Pisteuo. One of the definitions is “Holy Fervor”. This means to have an active, positive belief, to have excitement and enthusiasm about God. God wants us to believe that He is able to change us. Without that belief, we fall into the category of ambivalence James speaks about in Chapter 1 verses 6-8: “For the one who wavers is like the billowing surge out at sea, blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord, for being as he is a man of two minds, unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels and decides.” There is a hard lesson to be learned here, it is a lesson of trust. Unless trust in God exists, change will not take place. In the Amplified Bible, the last verse of Hebrews Chapter three reads: “They were not able to enter into His rest because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust and rely on God – unbelief had shut them out”.Victory is dependent on your trust in God.
WALKING IN WISDOM: In the secular world it is said: “Surround yourself with the winners”. The same can be true in a spiritual sense. Do not keep company with the losers, the whiners, those who are critical of God, those who have no faith that God can change them and attempt to prove that God doesn’t work or keep His promises. Avoid these people like the plague. Find those who have been successful, those whose faith and trust have brought them through the desert of transition, those whose lives attest to the goodness of God and those who are thankful and grateful for the work God has done in their lives. We are greatly affected by those around us; surround yourself with the true believers, those who have totally submitted themselves to God and are now enjoying new life, a life full of meaning and promise.
GOD WORKS DIFFERENTLY THAN WE EXPECT: We come to God because we have a homosexual problem, but what we don’t realize is that homosexuality is simply the symptom of deep, non-sexual problems from early life. God doesn’t attack the homosexual problem itself, but begins to heal those non-sexual underlying problems. He gives us wisdom about our issues, but then expects us to work through these issues, taking action to bring the healing we need. Since homosexuality for the most part stems from damaged relationships, God expects us to build healing relationships. We must take relationship risks. We must become open and honest with people, even though at times we will become wounded by those people we have trusted. It took many years for our homosexual problem to develop and it will take many years for the healing to take place. Be patient with God; the rewards for patience are great.
God has a part to play in our healing and we have a part to play. We are mistaken if we expect God to do it all – we definitely have to make an effort on our behalf. Three areas are important. First, relationships. Our relationship with God and our relationship with others; these must be positive, godly relationships. Second we must be willing to forgive those people who negatively affected our lives and contributed greatly to our homosexual problem. And third, we must be positive about God. We must ask Him to open our eyes and see just how he intervenes in our lives on a daily basis. We must develop a thankful, positive spirit.
WALKING IN REALITY: Many believe that the reality is that God either can’t or won’t change us, but that is a lie. God is fully capable of bringing the change we desire. We can expect much from God. Others, who may not have experienced homosexuality themselves believe that we can just stop being homosexual. This too is unrealistic. Change is a long, slow, grinding process. So let us have no unrealistic expectations about change. Much of change will be invisible to you. Only when you look back a few months, a year, five years will you be able to see just how far you have come. Sometimes, it is only when a friend or family member reminds you of where you have been that you suddenly see the reality of what God has done. Life is difficult, change is difficult, but God will never take you halfway and abandon you. Yes, as you progress along the path of change it seems that the difficulties increase, but as God gives you more, God expects more in return. “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). But even though more is required, you will be walking in the joyful knowledge that God is with you every step of the way…