Spiritually Free, But Feeling Weighed Down? Here’s the Surprising Truth

We all desire to be free. It’s a deep, spiritual longing written into the human soul. Yet, in our modern world, the word "free" often comes with strings attached. When someone in a mall offers you a "free vacation," your first instinct is probably to walk the other way, knowing there’s a catch.

This tension exists on a much deeper level. Many of us live in countries that pride themselves on physical freedom, yet we don't feel free. In a nation like the United States, a place built on the ideal of liberty, we see some of the highest rates of depression and anxiety in the world. We are physically unrestrained, but so many of us carry an invisible burden.

So I’m going to make a bold claim, because I believe with all my heart that it is biblically true: There is no true freedom outside of Jesus Christ. We might be physically free, but without Him, we feel the weight of slavery on our soul. This post will explore a few surprising and powerful truths about finding that genuine, spiritual freedom, drawing from the timeless teachings of Jesus in John chapter 8.

You Can Be a Slave Without Seeing the Chains

One of the most counter-intuitive ideas Jesus presents is that a person can be enslaved without any visible chains. When He told a group of believers that the truth would set them free, they pushed back immediately, saying, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone."

Jesus’s response cuts to the heart of the matter: "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." He wasn't talking about physical bondage but a spiritual one. The chains of sin are invisible to the one enslaved by them, but their weight is heavier than the ones we see.

This spiritual slavery is what creates a "burdened soul." We’ve all seen sin’s false advertising.

• It promises joy but gives us heartache.
• It promises to make life easier but delivers catastrophe.
• It promises the best outcome but it never comes.

This constant cycle drains the soul of the joy, peace, and freedom God intends for us. The weight of it grows day by day.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. — Titus 3:3

Recognizing these invisible chains is the critical first step. You cannot break free from a prison you don’t know you’re in.

Recognizing this prison is the first step. But how do we find the key? Jesus tells us it’s less about a single decision and more about a new way of living.

True Freedom Is a Change of Address, Not Just a Change of Mind

I've always struggled with a core tension in my faith, and maybe you have too. On one hand, I know I'm a Christian, saved by grace. On the other, I know I'm a sinner who stumbles daily. Jesus says if you're in Him, you're free, but in the same passage, He says if you practice sin, you're a slave. So how can I be free daily if I sin daily? The devil loves for us to get stuck on that question, because he loves to see us in shackles.

Jesus gives us the profound solution in a single, powerful word He uses in John 8:31: "abide." He says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." The Greek word for abide, ménō, means to "remain, stay, or reside."

This isn't about simply agreeing with a set of ideas; it's about a complete change of location for your soul. When we "abide" in the word of Jesus, we are establishing residence in a new neighborhood.

Think about what happens when you physically move. Moving’s hard. You have to change your driver's license, update your mail, and transfer your utilities. You have to adapt to a new way, and you’re bound to forget something. Moving is a huge transition because so much changes. The same is true spiritually. When you take up residence in Jesus and His Word, you begin a new life in a different place.

This new residence gives you a powerful advantage against deception. You train someone to spot a counterfeit bill not by having them study every possible fake, but by letting them study the real thing. When you reside in God's truth, you become intimately familiar with what is authentic, allowing you to easily spot the "scams" and lies of the enemy designed to pull you back into bondage.

And here is the beautiful payoff. When we choose to live in His truth, the struggle that once felt so overwhelming is resolved by a promise: Chains cannot be on a Christian that is abiding in the truth of God's word. They can't. They have no power.

So, abiding in truth keeps us free from sin's power. But what keeps us walking in the right direction? This is where our purpose comes in.

Finding Your 'Why' Is Like Looking Through a Telescope

Living without a purpose is its own form of slavery. It creates a sense of meaninglessness, which is one of the greatest shackles the devil can put on humanity. We live in a world that whispers, and sometimes shouts, that nothing matters. You're an accident. You’re just walking around on a speck of dust floating through space, and one day you’ll die. Nothing matters. What a sad and heavy way to go through life.

Mark Twain famously said the two most important days of your life are: “the day you were born and the day you find out why?”

According to the teachings of Jesus, our "why" is found in Him. This idea is captured in the ancient Greek word telos, which means a "goal in the distance." It's the root of our word "telescope."

The metaphor is powerful. When you look through a telescope, everything in your peripheral vision is blacked out. The distractions, the clutter, the unimportant details—they all disappear. All you can see is the destination, the object you are focused on.

This is exactly how we are called to live our spiritual journey. We fix our eyes on the truth of Jesus Christ. As we do, the detours of sin and the lies of meaninglessness are blacked out. Our God-given purpose comes into sharp focus, allowing us to navigate life with clarity and direction instead of wandering aimlessly.

Conclusion: How Will You Carry Your Soul?

True spiritual freedom isn't a one-time event but a way of living. It begins when we recognize our unseen slavery to sin. It is found when we stop being casual visitors and actively "move in" with Christ by abiding in His word. And it is maintained by keeping our eyes fixed on our ultimate purpose, like looking through a telescope at a distant star.

This brings us back to that practical, daily tension. We still sin. We still stumble. But freedom lies in the difference between stumbling and settling. A traveler on a long journey might stumble over a rock, but they get up, dust themselves off, and keep walking toward their destination. They don't stumble and then decide to "take up residence in the wilderness" of their failure. When we stumble, the path to freedom is to get right back on the road God has for us, refocusing on our purpose in Him.

So, the challenge for you is this: Do you feel free? Spiritually free, or do you have a burdened soul? If you’re walking around with a burdened soul, how much longer are you willing to do that?