Lift your chains He holds the key

Someone once said, "Man is born free, but everywhere he lives in chains."  I've been thinking about this a lot lately and relating it to the context of our current culture and society.  Something seems to happen as we get older.  Instead of being free like we are when we're first born, we begin to let society throw its chains on us.  In fact this is why so many people leave the church or other institutions.  They often feel like they are being restricted or controlled and so they leave in the attempts to assert their freedom.  A brief look at history tells us that freedom is something that civilizations have cherished and desired for millennia.  There is something deep within us that tells us that we were meant to be free.  So how is it that we have lost our freedom?  Why are we living in chains?

Our definition of freedom has been lost.  Instead we have settled for a cheap mockery of it.  People long ago knew what freedom was.  They fought and died to give freedom to the slave, they fought and died to give freedom to a nation and we have cheapened it by making it into a do what feels good concept.  Society tells us that freedom comes from having no restraints.  Being able to do whatever we want whenever we want, that is what society calls freedom.  This is an impostor of real freedom.  We have been made to believe in this blatant lie.  Night after night people continue to try to satisfy those soul cravings that lie deep within.  They try to fill it with partying, drinking, drugs, etc.  The guilt weighs on them, anxiety continues to loom and the cycle starts over.  They're trapped in a vicious cycle, unable to break free.  All this in pursuit of freedom?  People claim to be free, but it is often a thinly veiled disguise to cover up the guilt, shame and anxiety that they really feel.  There is hope of real lasting freedom.  The freedom offered by Jesus Christ.

Paul says, "It is for freedom that you have been set free!" (Gal 5:1).  Many people don't know what to make of this statement.  They've always believed that the church is an organization bent on imposing its rule on others.  This is not the case, as Paul says, it is for freedom that we have been set free.  In fact, having faith in Christ is what gives real freedom.  It is the freedom to know that your sins are forgiven that God has made you and loves you and wants you to enjoy this world.  Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10).  He wants us to be free, to enjoy life, to take pleasure in His creation.  Why do we continue to insist on settling for the lies of society

There is a great song by Casting Crowns, called Set Me Free, that portrays a powerful image throughout.  It is a story of a man who has been weighed down with the world.  He has been wrapped in chains and he says, "Now I live among the dead".  He cries out to be set free.  He cries out hoping for some way to be rid of the chains that hold him down.  Screaming at the top of his lungs he calls out to God asking for freedom.  Jesus asks him, "Do you want to be free?  Lift your chains I hold the key."  It's such an accurate portrayal of so many people that I know, myself included.  We have been bogged down with anxieties and worries, with fears and doubts, and we are no longer free.  Our sins continue to weigh on us, trapping us in a cycle that we can't break free of.  The sinful desires that we once overpowered, now hold us in bondage and slavery fooling us into thinking that we are free.

It is time that we break out of this prison that we have been held in.  We must learn to passionately seek after the things on God's heart while ignoring the things that drive us away from it.  The further we are from His heart, the further we are from freedom.  I believe that it deeply grieves God to see His people trapped in sin, refusing to acknowledge that they are slaves.  It is heartbreaking to see people pursuing sinful desires trumpeting freedom.  We were meant for so much more than this.  It is for freedom that we have been set free.  The freedom to make a stand, to live without worry or anxiety, the freedom from shame and guilt, the freedom to live in pursuit of a glorious King who grants us life abundantly.  May we learn to break the chains holding us.  May we see the lies for what they are, that we may live a free life of devotion to God.  May we be set free from the worldly desires that ensnare us and the sins that enslave us.  May we lift our chains for He holds the key.