In 1998 the New York Yankees won their first of three consecutive World Series titles. The team was helped along tremendously that year by a young pitcher named Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez had not even been in America for a year yet, when the season ended. He had escaped from Cuba on a raft, and quickly proven himself and landed a job in the Yankees' starting rotation. After making his first World Series start, Hernandez was asked in an interview about his relaxed and joyful demeanor during the game, a situation that proves to be nerve-racking and stressful for most rookies. His translated response was: "I'm not afraid of anything they can do against me." You see, Hernandez understood freedom. In a year's time, he had gone from communist slavery and daily fear of death to pitching in the World Series. Even if he lost, he was free. Consequently, he played with a fearlessness and an enthusiasm that turned his team around when they faced elimination in the league championships.
If you take the Lord at His Word, trust that His Son, Jesus, accomplished salvation for you from the penalty of your sin, and call upon Him for that salvation, then you are free, too. And, yours is an irrevocable freedom. Psalm 118:6 says "The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" We should never shrink back. We should never apologize for the Word of God. We should never try to bend the Word of the Lord in order to marry it with fashionable philosophy (or for any other reason). Come what may, we are free. And, if "the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."-John 8:36