“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has
made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of slavery.” –
Galations 5: 1
“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand
more if only they knew they were slaves.” - Harriet Tubman
Ms. Tubman was speaking of the literal condition of human
beings enslaved by other human beings when she made this statement. It's almost incomprehensible, but there were men and women in that
generation who just knew no other life was possible, and would never struggle
to be free of the only living they had known.
How many in the world today have no idea that they are
slaves in some form or another? They are
shackled by brokenness, or anger, or hatred, or selfishness, or
self-loathing. They are indentured to past
failures and poor choices. They are
beholden to lustful pursuits and hoarding, or bound to people who abuse and
mistreat them physically, emotionally, and spiritually… all because they don’t
believe that any other life is possible.
If only they knew that they were slaves.
Maybe they would fight harder to attain freedom if they did.
The Underground Railroad used choirs of slaves to sing the
directions to freedom in choruses of Spirituals born in the midst of evil. Sung with passion and volume, they were heard
all over the land by those who were being taken from one life to another, often
in darkness. The call of Grace has been heard
by countless numbers of those who seek to be free… but there are still so many
who don’t even know that they’re slaves held in place by nothing more than
their own misperceptions and surrender to hopelessness. The Christ cries out to a slumbering world
ensnared by the chains of slavery to sin and death and declares that there is a
way to be free! The Gospels plead with
us to throw off the shackles that are made by men, even those fashioned by our
own hands and placed around our own necks!
Can’t you hear the strains of the Heavenly Chorus directing you to
freedom? Their melody reminds you that
there is hope; that there IS something better possible. Will you let them guide you?
May God free you from your burdens today... and may Jesus help to keep you from putting them back on.
Love in Christ always,
Chris
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