“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – Jesus   (John 8:31-32)

“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” – James A. Garfield

If you’ve ever experienced a joint or muscle injury that required physical therapy to heal, you’ve experienced the (painful) truth of both of the above quotes.   If you’ve ever had a broken bone and needed physical therapy to rehabilitate atrophied muscles and connective tissue, you’ve experience it as well.  The truth is, when you’ve been injured, the LAST thing you want to do is to endure the pain the the stretching and movement of physical therapy brings.  Everything in you wants to avoid movement…avoid stretching…avoid the pain!   Without physical therapy and exercise though, you can actually become unnecessarily trapped and crippled by your injury.  Pain leads to freedom.  Inaction  and pain avoidance leads to loss of freedom.

The truth is like that.  I know, it’s a bit of a cliche…but the truth does actually hurt many times. Every week of the DISTORTION series I am reminded that the truth of scriptures is designed to stretch us…move us…and finally to HEAL us.  The lies of our enemy Satan are fully designed to do the opposite, to give us false comfort as we sit immobile in our sins…to eventually trap and imprison us in a web of bad decisions that becomes increasingly more painful to change.

Here’s the great news about the pain of physical therapy…and pain that the truth that the Scriptures often brings:  It’s worth it.  These words of Jesus are ultimately true…but the truth is… it’s gonna be a little painful first.

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.–  Jesus   (John 10:10)