freedom to say no

Thinking about freedom, I read Oswald Chambers, again in MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST::

“Our Lord never insists on having authority; he never says, Thou shalt! He leaves us perfectly free—so free that we can spit in his face, as men did; so free that we can put him to death, as men did; and he will never say a word.”
I am convinced that we need to provide this same kind of freedom to people, including church people. It has actually been my experience in ministry that I have witnessed people come to a place of realizing that they don’t really believe the way they thought they did, that they don’t subscribe to the platitudes, principles or practices that they inherited and thoughtlessly adopted. I am not excusing bad ministry. I realize I’ve made mistakes, even grave ones. I am responsible for that. But Jesus allowed people to make a decision and follow him, or make a decision and reject him.
I think this attitude is necessary in order to maintain our own integrity, to speak truth, and to be free ourselves.