Freedom!

Welcome to Unseen today. It has been a week of ups and downs, or Highlights and Lowlights as we say at Faithworks. I was caught up in insecurity and I found the answer in a strange place. Read on.

FREEDOM!

Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17

I saw them again this week - “free” tickets to the circus. We fell for it once. I took my children to the circus with their free tickets. My ticket was fifteen dollars.  We went in and sat in an empty section near the center ring. We were excited to find a seat so close to the action. After a few minutes a woman with a money belt come and told us that it would be four dollars apiece more to sit there. Rolling our eyes, we moved to another seat.  The circus started and there were other money making opportunities, such as elephant rides that cost twelve dollars and lasted about two minutes, and pictures with a sci-fi looking version of a cartoon character that gave me the willies.  I enjoyed the trapeze and high wire acts but the animal acts were my favorites. I was especially impressed with the elephants that were so easily controlled by a whistle and baton.

How do these great beasts learn so much control? I found out that when an elephant is very young it is tied to a post with a heavy rope that it is not able to break. As it grows it quickly becomes strong enough to break the rope or rip the post from the ground, but it is so used to being bound that it does not try to break free. By the time the elephant is full grown, it can be tied with only a thin cord.

This is a sad commentary on mankind and the way we treat animals but there is a deeper lesson to be learned. We are often held back in life by things that we can actually overcome. We may be held back by fear or by guilt or by self-defeating attitudes. We are vulnerable to these anyway and the Enemy of our souls is more than willing to supply them. One of his names in First Peter is the “Accuser of the Brethren.” For example I am filling out applications for jobs and every time I write down a job, he is in my ear saying, “Remember the things you did wrong at that job.” I am trying to counter with the things that I did well or things that I learned.

This is not something that we can overcome on our own, but it is something we can overcome. Guilt is a common trap that the enemy sets for us, but in Romans 8:1 Paul tells us that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Isaiah 54:17 tells us this good news. "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.  We also need to remember that “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” He has promised to complete the work that he started in us. (Philippians 1:6)

Don’t fall for the lies you are told. “Gird you loins with truth” (Ephesians 6) and let God help you to break free from the things that bind you.