We live in a post-truth culture. We acknowledge that truth exists, but increasingly, we don’t care if it conflicts with our preferences or feelings.

What we are living through isn’t simply an expansion of human freedom. It is an elevation of autonomy–freedom without limits, without reference, without anything outside ourselves telling us what is true or good.

The word autonomy comes from the Greek words autos, meaning “self,” and nomos, meaning “law.” Literally, it means self-law. And that sounds like freedom until you realize what it costs.

This cost is what is concerning me. I see it in my work as a pastor.

If I am my own authority, then I have to carry the weight of deciding what is true, what is right, who I am, and what my life should become. I have to trust my feelings even when they change (which almost always carries regret). I have to trust my desires even when they conflict with my soul. I have to construct my identity and then defend it. I have to figure out what matters while living in a culture constantly telling me what should matter.

Algorithms watch what captures our attention. Advertisers learn what we desire. Institutions communicate what is acceptable. Social media rewards outrage, conformity, and belonging. So we are constantly negotiating the question: Who gets to tell me who I am…and are they benefiting financially off of me?

This increases the ache in your soul. Something is not right.

Autonomy doesn’t eliminate authority. It simply moves the authority inside you. Eventually your competing versions of truth collide. When there is no shared reality outside yourself, whoever is loudest starts deciding whose version of reality gets heard, protected, or enforced.

Can I trust anyone or anything to tell me who I am? (No wonder trust issues are so prevalent.)

There is a truth available that is outside of you. Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

This is the very statement our post-truth world reacts negatively to. Who are you to tell me what is the truth? Who is Jesus to tell me what is truth over me?

The irony is this: a culture obsessed with autonomy can leave us less free–manipulated, exhausted, and aching with the sense that something is still wrong.

We thought freedom meant needing no one, answering to no one, creating ourselves, and trusting ourselves. Instead, we have made ourselves responsible for carrying the weight of our own identity, our own truth, our own future, and our own salvation. And somewhere along the way, we discovered that self-reliance can become its own kind of bondage.

This is where the Christian faith offers something radically different. You are not your own savior. You are not your own source of truth. You are not required to carry the weight of creating yourself, securing your future, or deciding everything for yourself.

You belong first. God speaks to you first in the womb. You are claimed and spoken for.

From this belonging, the truth lives outside of you. This truth, which has a name, Jesus, is for you, especially for your flourishing. The way of Jesus is for your flourishing. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.

Are you flourishing in your autonomy? Or are you confused and exhausted? Are you wishing for something more and tired of trying more?

This way of surrender to a Savior who isn’t you is surprisingly freeing. We think we should be independent from God when our freedom begins with dependency on God. How backassward is that? It’s been true for a long time now for those brave enough to become dependent on a Savior.

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Galatians 5:1.

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