The Shackles We Choose
"So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free." - John 8:36
No one wants to be a slave. If you asked people whether they would rather live in freedom or captivity, the answer would be obvious. Yet so many live in bondage without realizing they are the ones holding the chains in place.
Jesus spoke about this when He told the people that the truth would set them free. But instead of celebrating that freedom, they pushed back. “We have never been enslaved to anyone,” they said. But they had been. Their history was full of slavery. Worse than that, Jesus pointed out an even deeper bondage, the slavery to sin.
This is where so many of us find ourselves. We long to be free. We want peace. We want joy. We want to be released from the weight of guilt, fear, and shame. But instead of walking out of the prison, we sit in it, shackled by things we were never meant to carry. Jesus has already opened the door. The chains have already been broken. Yet, we stay where we are, holding onto the very things He came to set us free from.
Why do we do this? Maybe it is because bondage feels familiar. Maybe we have lived in sin for so long that we cannot imagine life without it. Maybe we have believed the lies that say we are too far gone, too broken, or too unworthy to step into the freedom Jesus offers. But none of that is true.
Galatians 5:1 says that Christ has set us free, so we should stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery. That means freedom is not just something God gives. It is something you have to walk in. You have to choose to step out. You have to stop picking up the chains that Jesus has already broken.
So what are you still holding onto? What lies, habits, or fears are keeping you from the life Jesus has already secured for you? The door is open. The weight has been lifted. The only thing left to do is take a step forward and walk in the freedom that has been yours all along.
No one wants to be a slave. If you asked people whether they would rather live in freedom or captivity, the answer would be obvious. Yet so many live in bondage without realizing they are the ones holding the chains in place.
Jesus spoke about this when He told the people that the truth would set them free. But instead of celebrating that freedom, they pushed back. “We have never been enslaved to anyone,” they said. But they had been. Their history was full of slavery. Worse than that, Jesus pointed out an even deeper bondage, the slavery to sin.
This is where so many of us find ourselves. We long to be free. We want peace. We want joy. We want to be released from the weight of guilt, fear, and shame. But instead of walking out of the prison, we sit in it, shackled by things we were never meant to carry. Jesus has already opened the door. The chains have already been broken. Yet, we stay where we are, holding onto the very things He came to set us free from.
Why do we do this? Maybe it is because bondage feels familiar. Maybe we have lived in sin for so long that we cannot imagine life without it. Maybe we have believed the lies that say we are too far gone, too broken, or too unworthy to step into the freedom Jesus offers. But none of that is true.
Galatians 5:1 says that Christ has set us free, so we should stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery. That means freedom is not just something God gives. It is something you have to walk in. You have to choose to step out. You have to stop picking up the chains that Jesus has already broken.
So what are you still holding onto? What lies, habits, or fears are keeping you from the life Jesus has already secured for you? The door is open. The weight has been lifted. The only thing left to do is take a step forward and walk in the freedom that has been yours all along.
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