February 4, 1992
“There is no slave like the person who is free to do what he pleases.”
The psychiatrist who said it backs it up. He discloses that four out of ten teenagers who come to him with psychological disorders are beyond his help because “each one is demanding that the world conform to his or her personal and uncontrolled desires.”
This professional also says, “If these personality disorders persist far into adulthood, we will have a society of pleasure-driven people, hopelessly insecure and dependent.”
Hopelessly insecure and dependent. Interesting. Apparently modern psychiatry has discovered what the Bible has been saying for thousands of years — pursuing our desires does not bring security and independence but great bondage.
It is common to think true freedom means being free to do whatever we please, but experts in mental health say not, and so does Scripture. Freedom is a big topic in the Bible and yet Romans 6 reduces it to two simple choices: we can either serve God as His bondslaves, or serve ourselves and be in bondage to sin.
For most, that is illogical. Again, freedom seemingly means being able to do what we want, when we want, with no restrictions. Of course slavery would then mean being in bondage to the dictates of someone else; and if that someone else is a holy deity that demands goodness, how can being good all the time equate to freedom? Those who think that way abandon obedience to God to pursue their own desires, usually without giving thought to the consequences.
Scripture offers some spiritual insights regarding this kind of thinking. First, Proverbs 14:12 warns there is a way that seems right... but the end of it is death. Like the psychiatrist said, those who go the way that seems right are eventually very insecure. The Bible says they are destroyed.
Also, Romans 3 says there are “none who seek after God, they have all turned aside... and become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one... destruction and misery are in their ways...” Again, the conclusion of the psychiatrist is the same as that of the Word of God: there is no slave like the person free to do as they please... because what they please is so self-destructive.
Secondly, Isaiah 53:6 says “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquities of us all.” According to Isaiah, simply turning from God to do our own thing is the very definition of sin, and the reason Jesus was crucified.
Author Oscar Wilde, not a Christian, made this confession: “The gods have given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease... tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.”
What Wilde tragically never discovered was that God treats His slaves far better than sin does. In fact, Jesus said: “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Showing posts with label bondage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bondage. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
No Ball and Chain .............. Parables 275
July 10, 1991
A young man in Moose Jaw wears an electronic ball and chain. Instead of going to prison at roughly $70 a day, he is under a sort of house arrest that uses a computerized monitor to keep track of him using a black bracelet on his leg that allows him to go to work and come back home. if he goes out of the house at any other time than working hours without special permission, it shows up on a monitor and he will be sent to a real jail.
This gizmo costs about $2 a day. According to the probation officer who monitors this prisoner, such a money-saver is for “well-screened clients only” and it really doesn’t offer much freedom. After all, the prisoner can’t go shopping, or out for a hamburger, or participate in any ordinary after-work activities. The prisoner says he is not proud of his situation and he did not want to be identified. He will be so “confined” for several months.
Sometimes I wish God would put one of those things on me, not so much to keep my location in check but to monitor my actions and my tongue! It would be nice if every time I did or said the wrong thing, an electronic beeper went off and sent me straight to my knees to confess my sin and get right with God -- and with whoever else I offended. It might be a bit hard on my pride and my shins but sometimes I wonder if the lessons would be more quickly learned than with the present system?
Actually, how can I say that! God knows best. He didn’t give me a beeper, but He did give me (and all Christians) the Holy Spirit. His purpose is to convince of sin and unbelief, and to assure Christians that they have been given the righteousness of Christ. He reminds us that the condemnation or judgment we deserved has been put on His Son. The Spirit was also given to teach us, remind us of what we know, and give us the strength to obey God. Quite superior to an electronic beeper!
But Christians are not robots operated by this internal third Person of the Godhead. We have to do our part, including at least these three things:
KNOW THE WORD: The Holy Spirit doesn’t speak apart from Biblical principles. Jesus said of Him, “...He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak at His own initiative but whatever He hears, He will speak... He shall glorify me for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you.” Not every idea we get is from God so it is important to be able to distinguish the Spirit’s voice from the cravings of our own desires or the ravings of an evil entity. Sometimes both can be incredibly subtle. No alarm may sound and that still, small voice is so easy to ignore.
LISTEN: My husband recently reminded me how gently the Spirit speaks, without roars or yells or blaring alarms. Instead, He whispers and nudges. He may keep on nudging if we don’t respond quickly, but because it is possible to “quench the Spirit”, our refusal to listen may result in a blunder into sin, only to learn our lesson the hard way. Learning to listen is easier if we obey the first time we hear His voice.
TALK BACK: Not as in sass but as in prayer. Talking with God, accompanied by listening, develops a sensitivity to Him. Too often I reserve prayer for crisis times yet my relationship with any other friend would never survive if we only talked to each other every time something went haywire. Just as I know my husband’s voice on the telephone because we talk long and often, I am learning the voice of God’s Spirit through frequent conversation. God’s provision of what Jesus called “another Comforter” is perfect. A beeper would be cumbersome, impersonal, and truly a ball and chain, whereas the Spirit came to set us free from the bondage of sin and to be our guide throughout life.
A young man in Moose Jaw wears an electronic ball and chain. Instead of going to prison at roughly $70 a day, he is under a sort of house arrest that uses a computerized monitor to keep track of him using a black bracelet on his leg that allows him to go to work and come back home. if he goes out of the house at any other time than working hours without special permission, it shows up on a monitor and he will be sent to a real jail.
This gizmo costs about $2 a day. According to the probation officer who monitors this prisoner, such a money-saver is for “well-screened clients only” and it really doesn’t offer much freedom. After all, the prisoner can’t go shopping, or out for a hamburger, or participate in any ordinary after-work activities. The prisoner says he is not proud of his situation and he did not want to be identified. He will be so “confined” for several months.
Sometimes I wish God would put one of those things on me, not so much to keep my location in check but to monitor my actions and my tongue! It would be nice if every time I did or said the wrong thing, an electronic beeper went off and sent me straight to my knees to confess my sin and get right with God -- and with whoever else I offended. It might be a bit hard on my pride and my shins but sometimes I wonder if the lessons would be more quickly learned than with the present system?
Actually, how can I say that! God knows best. He didn’t give me a beeper, but He did give me (and all Christians) the Holy Spirit. His purpose is to convince of sin and unbelief, and to assure Christians that they have been given the righteousness of Christ. He reminds us that the condemnation or judgment we deserved has been put on His Son. The Spirit was also given to teach us, remind us of what we know, and give us the strength to obey God. Quite superior to an electronic beeper!
But Christians are not robots operated by this internal third Person of the Godhead. We have to do our part, including at least these three things:
KNOW THE WORD: The Holy Spirit doesn’t speak apart from Biblical principles. Jesus said of Him, “...He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak at His own initiative but whatever He hears, He will speak... He shall glorify me for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you.” Not every idea we get is from God so it is important to be able to distinguish the Spirit’s voice from the cravings of our own desires or the ravings of an evil entity. Sometimes both can be incredibly subtle. No alarm may sound and that still, small voice is so easy to ignore.
LISTEN: My husband recently reminded me how gently the Spirit speaks, without roars or yells or blaring alarms. Instead, He whispers and nudges. He may keep on nudging if we don’t respond quickly, but because it is possible to “quench the Spirit”, our refusal to listen may result in a blunder into sin, only to learn our lesson the hard way. Learning to listen is easier if we obey the first time we hear His voice.
TALK BACK: Not as in sass but as in prayer. Talking with God, accompanied by listening, develops a sensitivity to Him. Too often I reserve prayer for crisis times yet my relationship with any other friend would never survive if we only talked to each other every time something went haywire. Just as I know my husband’s voice on the telephone because we talk long and often, I am learning the voice of God’s Spirit through frequent conversation. God’s provision of what Jesus called “another Comforter” is perfect. A beeper would be cumbersome, impersonal, and truly a ball and chain, whereas the Spirit came to set us free from the bondage of sin and to be our guide throughout life.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Who is on God’s bandwagon? ............ Parables 150
Two preachers were on their way to a prayer meeting. They encountered a young woman who suddenly turned around and began following them, shouting loudly, “These men are servants of the most High God. They are telling you the way to be saved.”
For many days, she followed them everywhere, shouting her message. Sounds like just the sort of PA system the church needs, doesn’t it! She was right on in her assessment of the men and right on in her assessment of their work. She even pegged God correctly.
But the two preachers were troubled in spirit about this woman and sensed something others missed; she wasn’t really on their bandwagon. It turned out, “she had a spirit by which she predicted the future and earned a great deal of money for her owner’s by fortune-telling.”
Paul, one of the preachers, finally turned around and said to the evil spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.”
Of course it did and the woman lost her power. Her owners, upset at seeing their hopes of getting rich vanish, managed to have Paul and Silas thrown into jail. Later, God rescued His true servants, but this woman, a walking publicity stunt, was not working for God.
Divination is the “art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...” It is strictly forbidden by God. It is not that the predictions are always totally false (although they usually are); the issue is their source. Whether a liar, a false prophet, or one possessed by an evil spirit, the diviner is not from God. The way to tell? Watch for bait and a hook.
A recent advertisement for a “Psychic Fair” in Fort Saskatchewan called divination “spellbinding entertainment” baiting with the hook with, “Gaze into the future...what does 1989 hold for you?” This is similar to the line the serpent fed Eve: “Eat...and be like God...know the future!”
The forbidden fruit looked good to Eve, even pleasant. It was right in the catagory of “spellbinding entertainment.” But that fruit quickly resulted in bondage. The hook was set and her deceived heart was thoroughly exploited.
Ever since then, the temptation to be like God entices people. That serpent wants us to take control over our own destiny. However, we can’t accurately see what lies ahead. To our limited vision, “There is a way that seems right to a man but (God says) the end of our way is death.” He wants us to trust Him because ONLY HE truly knows the end from the beginning.
No wonder God said to the people of Israel: “Do not let diviners who are in your midst deceive you... for they prophesy falsely... l have not sent them... For the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort you in vain... You are afflicted because there are no shepherds.” (Jeremiah 29 and Zechariah 10)
The same warning holds true for us today, with one change. There is a Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. He promises to forgive our sins, save us from God’s wrath, give us eternal life, and lead and guide us in this life. He gives His nature, His righteousness, and His mighty power to anyone who believes in Him. He guides His own on a clear path through life.
Crystal balls, tarot cards, psychic readings, dream interpretation, numerology, and the like are bait. Hidden from view (sometimes even to those sitting behind the table in the booth) is a hook. Taking the bait could cost far more than a few dollars of “entertainment” money.
Jesus taught His followers to be fishers of men, but never to use bait, hooks, or deceit. The future He wants us to know is the certainty that we will spend eternity with Him. It is found in the gospel message, not hidden in some cards, or a hunk of glass. This future hope is plainly revealed to all who will trust Him, and plainly taught by those who do. Best of all, it is free!
“Let his who is thirsty come and drink of the water of life freely...”
For many days, she followed them everywhere, shouting her message. Sounds like just the sort of PA system the church needs, doesn’t it! She was right on in her assessment of the men and right on in her assessment of their work. She even pegged God correctly.
But the two preachers were troubled in spirit about this woman and sensed something others missed; she wasn’t really on their bandwagon. It turned out, “she had a spirit by which she predicted the future and earned a great deal of money for her owner’s by fortune-telling.”
Paul, one of the preachers, finally turned around and said to the evil spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.”
Of course it did and the woman lost her power. Her owners, upset at seeing their hopes of getting rich vanish, managed to have Paul and Silas thrown into jail. Later, God rescued His true servants, but this woman, a walking publicity stunt, was not working for God.
Divination is the “art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...” It is strictly forbidden by God. It is not that the predictions are always totally false (although they usually are); the issue is their source. Whether a liar, a false prophet, or one possessed by an evil spirit, the diviner is not from God. The way to tell? Watch for bait and a hook.
A recent advertisement for a “Psychic Fair” in Fort Saskatchewan called divination “spellbinding entertainment” baiting with the hook with, “Gaze into the future...what does 1989 hold for you?” This is similar to the line the serpent fed Eve: “Eat...and be like God...know the future!”
The forbidden fruit looked good to Eve, even pleasant. It was right in the catagory of “spellbinding entertainment.” But that fruit quickly resulted in bondage. The hook was set and her deceived heart was thoroughly exploited.
Ever since then, the temptation to be like God entices people. That serpent wants us to take control over our own destiny. However, we can’t accurately see what lies ahead. To our limited vision, “There is a way that seems right to a man but (God says) the end of our way is death.” He wants us to trust Him because ONLY HE truly knows the end from the beginning.
No wonder God said to the people of Israel: “Do not let diviners who are in your midst deceive you... for they prophesy falsely... l have not sent them... For the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort you in vain... You are afflicted because there are no shepherds.” (Jeremiah 29 and Zechariah 10)
The same warning holds true for us today, with one change. There is a Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. He promises to forgive our sins, save us from God’s wrath, give us eternal life, and lead and guide us in this life. He gives His nature, His righteousness, and His mighty power to anyone who believes in Him. He guides His own on a clear path through life.
Crystal balls, tarot cards, psychic readings, dream interpretation, numerology, and the like are bait. Hidden from view (sometimes even to those sitting behind the table in the booth) is a hook. Taking the bait could cost far more than a few dollars of “entertainment” money.
Jesus taught His followers to be fishers of men, but never to use bait, hooks, or deceit. The future He wants us to know is the certainty that we will spend eternity with Him. It is found in the gospel message, not hidden in some cards, or a hunk of glass. This future hope is plainly revealed to all who will trust Him, and plainly taught by those who do. Best of all, it is free!
“Let his who is thirsty come and drink of the water of life freely...”
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