Free To Be Me

Posted by: Patrick Nugent, Overnight Radio Host | Monday, February 2nd, 2026 (12:00am)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!—2 Corinthians 5:17

Imagine being in prison. Day in, day out, in chains. Day after day, month after month, year after year feeling that weight pull on your wrists, your ankles, and around your waist. Sure, after awhile you’d grow stronger so the chains don’t feel as heavy, and you might grow used to it. Yet, they continue to be there, holding you in place, keeping you from going where you want to go and always pulling you back to where they are fixed.

I’ve never been to prison, but I have worn chains. Chains not of steel or iron but made of an addiction to alcohol. Those chains anchored me to a bottle the way a prisoner is anchored to the walls of their cell. I couldn’t leave. I had been a drinker my entire adult life, and it’s how people knew me. It may sound absurd, but back then I was afraid of who I would be if I ever did manage to quit. Who would I hang out with? Where would I go? What would I do for fun?

You see, back then I thought drinking was my identity. That I couldn’t be myself without it.

Enter Jesus: The Chain Breaker.

In September of 2019, I went to church with open eyes and an open heart for the first time. Through discipleship with mentors, reading my Bible, and a lot of prayer I started to understand what Christians mean when they say, “Jesus saves.” It's not just a statement about eternity but about his saving grace for our lives, right here and right now.

My relationship with Jesus taught me that HE makes my identity. He offered to break the chains that tied me to a bottle of whiskey, and he helped me become the person he knit me together to be. Jesus showed me that I, like all his children, had many spiritual gifts that he would use. But there was a catch…I couldn’t put the chains he had broken back on.

We’re all like that, aren’t we? Jesus frees us, breaks the chains that make us slaves to temptation and addiction, but we still have such a hard time keeping them off. Sometimes we miss the weight we were so used to carrying that we try to pick them up again. But, the thing is, once those chains are broken, we are given a new identity with Jesus, and he has permanently removed those chains through his finished work on the cross. They are replaced by The Holy Spirit who empowers us to leave those chains behind and allow our faith to be reflected through the new lives we live.

Maybe it’s not alcohol for you, maybe it’s something else; binging on Netflix, doom scrolling on social media, shopping without limits, or some other temptation/addiction. No matter what it is, Jesus will set you free if you put your faith in him. Simply focus on him, focus on his word, and let him show you how he can use the gifts he’s given you. Step into the new creation he made you to be. Because of him, the chains are broken...not temporarily or conditionally, but forever! Walk forward in the freedom he has given you trusting that the same power that broke those chains is the same power that will keep you free.