"Now I Can be Annie"

I once had a dear black sister in Christ who taught me a lot about the joy of freedom. She grew up in the south and married young during the Great Depression. In a conversation about Christ and Christian freedom she said, “When I was young I was my father’s daughter, when I married I was Johnnie’s wife; I have never been Annie. When her husband died she said, “Now I can be Annie.” How sad that she had only a few months to live as Annie after her husband died. But she had a great love for Jesus and was free at last.

Think of all the people you know who have never been free to be themselves. It seems that everyone who can be controlled will be controlled by someone, something, or circumstances. Are you in this category? Must you wait until someone dies before you can be yourself? I heard a man say of a woman who was in such a state, “She will never be free until there is a good old fashioned funeral!” Or perhaps you are so busy controlling others that you are in bondage to your own need to control. To be sure the fault is most often with the controller, but it is sometimes with the controlled as well. Paul wrote to the weak Christians at Corinth, “You bear with anyone if he enslaves you… if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself” (II Cor. 11:20).

There is no bondage more burdensome than religious bondage because it binds the mind and conscience. We understand that cults, sects and other aberrant groups control their members, but so do mainline churches, who control by tradition, customs, taboos and church doctrine—as opposed to the doctrine of Christ. I was a controlling minister in my early years because I belonged to a controlling church. It took me years to learn that I could not be free if I deny others their freedom. Why do people control others? Why do they allow it? Jesus said, “If therefore the Son of Man makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). And Paul said, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). This was said to the churches of Galatia but it is also for individuals.

Some who have grown accustomed to controlling circumstances are not able to accept their freedom. Many slaves wanted to remain with their masters, the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt, and church members would rather stay in a controlling church than to go free in Christ. A few decades ago Minute Made, out of concern for their migrant workers, built them temporary housing, gave them health insurance, and cared for them as they had never been cared for before. What did they do? They complained, saying that Coca-Cola, owner of Minute Made, was trying to run their lives. It took some convincing to assure them that they had been given a new measure of freedom. On the other hand, when some who have been in bondage are set free they use their freedom to control others. When the American slaves were freed, some of then went to other nations, notably Guiana, West Africa and became masters of the indigenous people.

Considering all the possibilities of bondage, who can say he is truly free to be himself? One might issue a personal declaration of independence but that doesn’t mean he is free.

I have found His grace is all complete, He supplieth every need; While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet, I am free, yes, free indeed. – Barney E. Warren

Don’t wait for an oppressor to die or something spectacular to happen. Don’t allow anyone or anything to dominate your life and take away your freedom to be yourself. It’s time to say, “I have been controlled and never been allowed to be myself, but now I can be ___________ because Christ has set me free.”