Share this Post
My heart is full. In the past week I have spent time with my dear friends, Jean & Giuliana Gadotti in Brazil, speaking at their church, O Refugio. I returned home and was invited to speak at my home church in NC, The Refuge. Then I was invited to play a song with Big Daddy Weave at their concert last night. Mike Weaver and the guys of Big Daddy Weave have been my friends since I was 18 years old and any time I’m with them is life-giving. What a great week?! God has been so good to me and I’m so thankful for His kindness. He truly knows what blesses me most, and that is serving the Lord and using my gifts alongside people that I love. Not every week is like this past one. It’s not always full of excitement and time with life-long friends. Some weeks, I simply have to remind myself that I have any friends at all! Everyone feels great during the great times, but what about in the grind of life? Do we forget God’s goodness and kindness to us during those times? (Click here to read my post on being Thankful for the Struggle)
I can’t imagine there ever being a good time or place to be a slave. However, of all times and places to NOT be in slavery would be when God has planted you in the center of His promises. In the book of Nehemiah we see God’s people waking up to who they were called to be by God. They begin to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and fight for their identity as Sons and Daughters of God. In the midst of rediscovering God’s goodness and mercy, they are confronted by the fact that not only have they been distant from God, but in their ‘slumber’ they had also lost sight of who they were called to be and were now slaves in the very land God had promised to give to them as a Divine inheritance (Nehemiah 9:36-37). Recognizing the fact that they had become slaves in the promised land was painful. However, it was also a key step in returning to God and inheriting the promises He had for them all along. The same is true for you and I.
You Are a Son, Not A Slave
I often see Christians walking around in shame and guilt, carrying things that they were never designed to carry. It is true that we are to ‘carry our cross’ and live a life of humble availability to the Lord but that ‘cross’ isn’t the one that bears the weight of our sin; only Jesus could bear that one. Our cross is the death of our personal preferences and selfish ambitions. That’s our part. But I see people trying to ‘help God’ by carrying around the weight of their guilt, or fear or religious piety and they look like slaves although they have been accepted and announced as Sons! In the 1986 movie “The Mission” (a personal favorite) Robert De Niro’s character was a slave trader who gave his life to God but couldn’t bring himself to go with his fellow believers to share that love with the very community of native peoples that he had previously oppressed and plundered to sell into slavery. The only way he would agree to go was with the weight of his armor and weaponry tied around him. That image reminds me of how we look when we continue to carry guilt and shame when Jesus has purchased it all. It takes faith to let Him carry that burden. He is asking you if you will let Him carry it today. A Son would say ‘Yes, thank you so much’, a slave would say ‘No, that’s my job’. Which are you? (Click here to watch my message on this topic)
The way out is confession and repentance. We acknowledge that we’ve been walking around like slaves while we are holding a first-class ticket in our hands. We must confess that we’ve been trying to carry the weight on our own; either out of a sense or religious ‘responsibility’ or out of an ‘orphan mindset’ of feeling like God doesn’t really mean it when He says He wants our burdens. Either way, we must confess our sin and invite God to reveal to us our true identity so we can walk in the fullness of His promises. If confessing to God is scary to you, perhaps you are focusing too much on your brokenness and not enough on His beauty. Look at HIM, not at your shame. When you do, you’ll see the loving smile of the Father who is brimming with excitement to see you start walking as a Son or Daughter in the promises He has for you and not as a slave. Be more impressed with God’s beauty than your brokenness. When you do, you’ll find hope, life and release from the shame you’ve been carrying around like a slave. Look at Jesus today, and you’ll see that the sword in His hand is not to cut you, but to cut those chains off of you. (Click here to read my post on not letting Disappointment, Dis-Appoint you)
From The Bible
“So now today we are slaves in the land of plenty that you gave our ancestors for their enjoyment! We are slaves here in this good land.” – Nehemiah 9:36 NLT
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. – I John 1:9 NLT
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1 NIV
Share this Post