The Bondage Breakerনমুনা

The Bondage Breaker

by

Rocky Fleming

Day Five – Liberty

Let’s go back to the passage in Luke that I shared with you Monday. Look closely at these words of Jesus, “He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Luke 4:18 ESV Two times in this sentence Jesus used the word, “liberty.” Let’s understand the definition as Jesus used it, and how it applies to our life. Here is one definition that fits rather well:

Liberty – “freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.”

Jesus is our High Priest, and understands what we are going through. He is sympathetic with us and is compassionate, for He suffered though every temptation that we face, except He conquered them all. When He said that He came to give us liberty, it is because He knew that a force greater than ourselves enslaves us. This force is greater than our desire and willingness and power to change, even though we may want to change and try desperately to do so. 

It required His life to liberate our soul, and it requires His power to liberate us from our old ways. In the definition above we see the antithesis of captivity, as several examples of liberty are used: Freedom from Satan’s control, freedom from a life disruption that is not under Sovereign God’s permission, freedom from our obligation to the old man’s ways of doing things, the freedom to have ability to think rightly, speak rightly and so on. These are examples of the liberty beyond salvation that Jesus gives us. But, we have to take His liberty and leave our cage. 

I’m reminded of the story of a bad little boy, much like Satan, who invented a special way to capture beautiful songbirds. One day he walked a road with his cage full of songbirds. This is what happened:

A kind old man asked the youngster what he planned to do with the birds. To the old man’s horror, the kid said he planned to light some of them with gas on them, and then watch how long they could fly. Some of the birds he planned to release in a barn for target practice with his BB gun. The old man then asked, “If I give you every dollar in my wallet, can I buy the birds from you?” “Sure,” the kid replied. After the little boy left with his money, the old man opened the cage to allow the birds to fly away. Some of them did, and enjoyed their freedom immediately. Some would fly out only by his urging to find their freedom. But many remained in the cage, for they didn’t realize their freedom had been bought and paid for by the old man. All they needed to do was to take the gift. Unfortunately these birds didn’t, and they lived the rest of their life as prisoners in the cage they chose to remain in. They were freed from the restrictions of the cage, but they did not take the liberty bought and paid for them.

Guys, in the same way, we often do not accept the liberty Jesus has bought and paid for us. We get used to our cages. We think we can never get out, so we give up seeking our liberty. We grow tired from the fight against our addictions, internal struggles, and voices of lust, anger, greed and jealousy, to name a few. Because we are weary with the struggle, we stay in our cage and just give up, like those birds did. But, it is time to get up and accept all that has been given to us in Jesus, and escape our cages with His gift of liberty. Now is the time for the bondage to the wrong things in your life … to be broken. Will you take your liberation?

“Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.” (2 Timothy 2:26 NLT)