No longer slaves
Wednesday 5th September 2018
'Christ has set us free! This means we are really free.' Galatians 5:1 CEV
There are many things in life that can make us feel like we're stuck in chains: from the way we think about ourselves, to huge life-controlling issues such as anxiety and depression. We may know in theory that 'Christ has set us free' (Galatians 5:1 CEV), and we may desperately want to live in freedom, but the chains feel so much part of our lives that we're not sure how to live without them. We actually keep ourselves chained up.
When God took the Israelites out of slavery and towards the Promised Land, it should only have taken 11 days but it ended up taking 40 years. They complained endlessly and, as a result, kept going around the same mountain again and again. They'd been in slavery for 400 years, and they thought and talked like slaves. They couldn't grasp what God had promised them. Finally, he told them, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain...See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers' (Deuteronomy 1:6; 1:8 NIV).
God has promised us freedom. And we need to move in to and possess the freedom he's promised us. The Bible says: 'Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don't ever become slaves of the Law again' (Galatians 5:1 CEV).
So what now? Today, make the choice to step away from those chains, and refuse to let anyone, including yourself, put them back on you again.
Wednesday 5th September 2018
'Christ has set us free! This means we are really free.' Galatians 5:1 CEV
There are many things in life that can make us feel like we're stuck in chains: from the way we think about ourselves, to huge life-controlling issues such as anxiety and depression. We may know in theory that 'Christ has set us free' (Galatians 5:1 CEV), and we may desperately want to live in freedom, but the chains feel so much part of our lives that we're not sure how to live without them. We actually keep ourselves chained up.
When God took the Israelites out of slavery and towards the Promised Land, it should only have taken 11 days but it ended up taking 40 years. They complained endlessly and, as a result, kept going around the same mountain again and again. They'd been in slavery for 400 years, and they thought and talked like slaves. They couldn't grasp what God had promised them. Finally, he told them, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain...See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers' (Deuteronomy 1:6; 1:8 NIV).
God has promised us freedom. And we need to move in to and possess the freedom he's promised us. The Bible says: 'Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don't ever become slaves of the Law again' (Galatians 5:1 CEV).
So what now? Today, make the choice to step away from those chains, and refuse to let anyone, including yourself, put them back on you again.
