Monday, October 13, 2008

history

Monday, 10/13 Readings
"For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).
--
Everybody's got a history.

For the Ninevites, their history was that they didn't take Jonah's plea for them to repent seriously. Fast forward to a couple of centuries later in Jesus' time, and here were people not answering that call to repentance. The crowd was repeating history.

But we're free. All of us: I'm free, you're free, the Ninevites were free, and the crowd in the Gospel was free. Freedom is the realization and the practice of goodness and righteousness. God made us free in the Garden of Eden. It was purely good. But we've all somehow abused that freedom and thus fallen into the slavery of sin and evil. That's our history. And somehow, we need to regain our freedom.

Let's wake up! Repeating what we've done in the past isn't gonna move us forward. It's God who's going to get us where we're supposed to be. If our past didn't cut it back then, it's not gonna cut it now. We have to stop staying chained down to our past and any of its mistakes. We've got to cut off ties with our vices. We've got to start living for God and God alone. Because if our lives don't line up with God, we're just never gonna cut it.

Ecclesiastes says, "There is an appointed time for everything" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Every second is a time to live better than the previous one. And we can because we're free.

Dear God, look into my mind, my heart, and my soul. Show me the things that I need to work on and make it clear, Lord. Then help me to work on these things and get rid of all the junk I don't need and fill in the empty spaces with you. Help me break free from the chains of my history of slavery. You gave us all a new loan on life when you died on that cross for us. We owe it to you to invest our lives into holiness and give you the returns you deserve. Lord God, I belong to you. Take all of me.

No comments: