Bondage

The religious professors of Jesus day fancifully imagined themselves to have never been in bondage, and were quick to tell Him so. But sheep can’t pull the wool over the Shepherd’s eyes. He was more than familiar with their history (as He is ours). They had been in bondage in Egypt for some four hundred years, in Babylonian bondage seventy years, and at the time of their fabricated statement, were in bondage to Rome.

Why is it we are so slow to admit we are in bondage to something or someone? Is it not because we desperately want to believe we are in control? The truth is we are all in bondage, one way or the other. If one is not a bond-slave to Jesus Christ, then he or she is to the world, the flesh, or the devil. There are varieties of ways in which one can be in bondage to either things or people. For example, we can be in bondage to our appetites, thoughts, enjoyments, and emotions, as well as to family, friends, and religious leaders; to name just a few.

Peter tells us in his second epistle, “…for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” The quickest way to break anything that enslaves you is to make yourself a bond-servant to Jesus Christ. You are free when you’re bound to Christ. When we can say from our hearts, “I will not let thee go,” it is then the hold other things have on us, strangely lets go.

It’s well to remember, we are in bondage to whatever we cannot part with.