To be free from conditioning
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NASB)
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
As I was engaged in my daily meditation, which contrasts the conditioning of one of earth’s largest land animal—and arguably one of the most dominant with the tiniest amount of effort, yet over an extensive time period..
It was with a rope of some strength and a mighty tree that subdued this magnificent animal of brute strength.
This is how it is achieved. In the elephant’s juvenile state, they are attached to a large tree with a rope.
For days, weeks and months, they will try with all of their might and strength to break free. Yet, the rope does not split and the tree does not give.
Their spirits are broken and the will to be free is watered down to just wanting to live in that tiny circle.
Then, when the elephant reaches their capacity to wreak havoc (if they so choose) due to their enormous strength, they won’t fight back to get free, with the onset of ANY resistance they stop dead in their tracks, as if a light switch had suddenly been clicked off in their spirit.
So in due course they surrender and forget that they have choices…
There are many things in our lives today, that with greater amounts of similarity, we have chosen to be the big elephants tied to tiny trees with thread like ropes that chain all our hopes to boulders tossed into the abyss.
The pitiful drudge of an educational system that is weighted down by people who refuse to equate any form of semblance to a minority population of being qualified of equal education, equal access to business opportunities within that system and who try their best to sabotage the efforts of a superintendant who does not look like them; is less than punk (Punk or punky wood is a soft, rotted area, usually in the center of a tree or log. This condition is usually caused by fungal infection) used to burn rubbish from horse stables.
Then there is our season for politricks. How is that those who run for political office can set themselves up or allow themselves to be used by unscrupulous individuals, who might even be pistol toting family members that try to scare people in office to divert to lower forms of cultural racism? Ohhh by such actions we become such “little men/women”.
Yes, the thread-thin ropes that bound us elephants to such small scrubby, is but a puff of smoke that is lost in the slightest summer breeze, if we so choose to seek that which can break all chains.
God’s Word promises us that there is “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1-2 NASB). But the adversary of our character endeavors us to accept as true that sin rules over us..
What shall we do then? Reflect on what Christ has done. He died for our sins and declared an end to sin’s control over us (v.3). He rose from the dead and gave us the Holy Spirit. Now we are empowered to live victoriously in Him because “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in [us]” (v.11).
In Christ, we are set free. He has our salvation wrought, He our captive souls has bought, He has reconciled to God, He has washed us in His blood. —Wesley
EXPERIENCE TRUE FREEDOM— TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST.
— Our Daily Bread
