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FREEDOM TO BE FREE

Like contemporary labor disputes, things often got messy for slave owners as well. Slaves arrived with their own wives and families, married someone related to the owner, and many other sticky scenarios (Exodus 21). So various rules were in place to manage a slave’s release in his seventh year of employment.

Hagar’s case did not quite fit into any of the categories above. And the whole Ishmael debacle certainly caused her dismissal to be even more complicated. But in general, when a slave had children while working for the family, he had to choose between going free on his own after seven years or remaining in slavery with his family for life. “But the slave may declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will serve his master for life” (Exodus 21:6, NLT)

Talk about a rock and a hard place! The slave’s only chance at freedom depended on leaving his family behind. Perhaps that was the reason why Abraham took no official steps and simply sent Hagar into the wilderness with her child (Genesis 21). He understood that most mothers would rather starve together with their children than be free and prosper without them.

In the same way, slavery to the world or sin puts us in impossible situations. We feel so trapped that there seems to be no way out. The sacrifices necessary for us to break free of our earthly desires seem overwhelming and impossible. Until we accept Christ’s one perfect sacrifice toward freedom.

When we turn our backs on our lives of slavery to sin, no impossible trade-off is needed. Jesus does the work Himself through the power of the Holy Spirit who changes us from within. “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2, NLT).

Do you feel entangled by your circumstances at the moment? Does it seem like all the solutions available only make everything more complicated? Do you think that you may be struggling with slavery to sin or something else of this world?

Let us allow Christ to unravel the messy knots of our lives that keep us from being free in Him. Let us open our hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit that leads us to freedom in Him. “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in the slavery of the law” (Galatians 5:1, NLT)