choosing your captor.

If you were to think of the most miserable kind of life one could possibly lead, what would that look like? Some people would say that to be homeless, naked, and hungry would be the worst. Some would say to be completely alone would be as bad as it gets. And some would say that it cannot get worst than being imprisoned physically. And still, some would say that imprisonment of the mind is the worse case scenario. I personally don't know that there is an "ultimate" worst. But when I was thinking about the imprisonment of the mind, the Lord brought a few thoughts to mind.

whats the name of your chain?

Because we are humans, impressionable and mold-able by any and every circumstance that we let come near our hearts, we are all chained to something. The question is not "are you bound by chains?" but rather "what are you chained to?" There are countless things in this world that grab hold of us and lock down. Whether it is something external like drugs, alcohol, a relationship, lying, etc [fill in the blank with any sin you can think of], or something internal such as selfishness, perfectionism, self exultation, control, anxiety, worrying... SOMETHING binds us all. And just as a prisoner cannot escape from the jailhouse on his own but rather must have someone who is more powerful (as evidenced by having the keys to the cell) to let him out, we cannot free ourselves from our chains either. They can only be taken off by someone who is more powerful that us and more powerful than the grip of the thing that entangles us so tightly. This, of course, being the Lord.

Once we resolve that we are in fact powerless over whatever has a hold of us, only then will the Lord come in and free us from it. But, let me tell you something that I have learned the hard way. The chains do not dissolve. They are still hooked to us, just not to the source of power that they once were. If we do not then hook them to the Lord and become a slave of Him, we will surely be snagged again by some other power that we are not made to be controlled by! And then, the process begins all over again of surrendering it to the Lord, breaking the bondage, being free, and being reattached to something else. Instead, our being set free should look like this: "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" -Romans 6:18.

Basically, we WILL be held by some chains. The "freedom" that is so often discussed is found in choosing which chains will hold you! And by choosing to be a slave to Christ and bound by His power, we have actually been set free. 2 Corinthians 3:17 states "Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY." Brothers and sisters... there is no greater realization and no greater source of comfort that to know that you are free. That you can rest, relax, and just breathe in knowing for certain that you are FREE, and that nothing can get a grip on you as long as you let Jesus hold you tight.

[Let us keep in mind that letting Jesus hold us so tightly inevitably means that we do not hold ourselves in any way, which means complete surrender to Him, which is a discussion for another day :) ].