Arbeit Macht Frei. Work Sets You Free.
Was there ever a person entering Auschwitz who believed those words to be true? Was there even one person who thought that the message written above the gates was meant to give hope? Standing outside of the entrance at the beginning of our tour, the lie seems so obvious to me. But I know the history that waits inside. The people that stood there before me 70 years earlier didn't.
My stomach twists as I realize that I'm about to walk into what may very well be the most literal representation of hell to ever appear on earth. Both fiction and nonfiction books about World War II fascinate me, and as we begin the tour, my mind rapidly creates and recreates images that I've carried with me from their pages. I think about all the stories I know from this dark moment in history, and all the characters real and imagined that played a part in the unimaginable.
I've been learning that stories have power.
This month, we've had the opportunity to share our stories in many places and many ways. It seems like every day I'm telling new people about my life, about the World Race, about living in America, and, through it all, the gospel. Sometimes, daily life has a way of convincing us that our stories are boring or irrelevant. In the world of books, best-sellers are never described as “boring” and “irrelevant.” If God is who He says He is, I promise that He only writes best-sellers. And I guarantee that people are reading your story whether you think you're telling one or not.
Stories have power. Your story has power.
But what about when the power of a story overwhelms us? What happens when the weight of millions of stories crush you with their silence? Our guide tells us that no one knows how many lives were lost at Auschwitz. Did you know that only those who were healthy enough for the camps were numbered? The rest of the people, approximately every 3 out of 4, walked the long road to the gas chambers within hours of arriving at the camp. Anonymously. No one knows how many were killed here.
My mind screams, He knows. HE KNOWS. He wrote their stories. He knows the number. HE KNOWS. But if He knows, then how can He allow it? Right? Isn't that the question that keeps so many from believing in a good God that cares about them, that loves them?
I will tell you what I know: there is Evil in the world. I walked its halls, I stood in its gas chambers. I heard about how it imprisons, isolates, and kills. I cannot deny its power. But I can choose to believe that if there is Evil, there is also Good. And it is stronger. It is stronger. If it wasn't so, all the stories that inspire love, hope, peace, and joy would lose their power. Their light would be snuffed out by the darkness.
But light is always stronger than the blackest night. Always.
Jesus describes Satan as the Father of Lies. There are a lot of stories out there that we shouldn't believe but we keep listening to them anyway. Satan delights in twisting the best stories into the worst lies, and Work Sets You Free is one of them. There are things that bind us. Maybe it's our past. Maybe it's our future. Maybe it's fear. Or anger. Or anxiety. Maybe it's our unfulfilled dreams. Maybe it's our weight. Maybe it's a scar, inside or out. Maybe it's something that we can't even name, but there are moments when we know it's there, and we want it gone.
We believe in our power to overcome whatever it is that's holding us back.
We believe that our work can set us free.
We work on ourselves, we work on our relationships, we work on our careers, we work on our looks. We work, we work, and we work, believing that if we just worked a little bit harder we would find relief from our burdens. That we would be free.
We believe the lie.
Stories have power. But there is only one story powerful enough to bring freedom. It's the story of Jesus. He tells us plainly: the truth will set you free. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8) Jesus came and died and rose again to pay the price for your freedom. It's the story of Love being more powerful than Death. It's a story that will continue throughout Eternity. And it's a story that you can tell with your life, if you're willing to believe it. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) The only work connected to our freedom is the work of the cross. And so, I suppose, there is always a little bit of truth in the greatest lies.
The Work of the Cross Sets You Free. Don't believe any other story.
