Christian Living

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TO ALL THOSE I LOVE:

Most of us cannot comprehend the reality of being "owned" by someone else. We have no concept of slavery in our genetic makeup, yet slavery has existed since we messed up in the Garden of Eden. Because we are unable to understand the horrors of slavery we are open to lies and deceit about how slavery actually works. We think, "oh, that thing is not so bad," or "I would never become a slave to ______________.

We enslave ourselves daily to all kinds of things and we enslave others because we are naive to the consequences. We continually journey down roads without knowing what is truly at the end of the road. At some point, some of us realize that no matter how hard we try we will still be "owned" by someone or something other than ourselves. Now, our prayer becomes "please, God, give me a merciful owner".

We want a merciful owner who will allow us to "own" slaves so we can continue to deceive ourselves that we are "better" than someone else. We condemn those enslaved by situations and habits that we have not faced. We seek to "control" people, situations, or things so we can consider ourselves the "owner". We condemn wealth and poverty in the same breath. We condemn powerful and powerless. We condemn holy and unholy. We condemn the righteous and the unrighteous.

We have set ourselves up as "judge and jury" based on our own opinion. We measure everything with a yardstick created from our own limited experiences. We forget compassion. We forget love. We believe Jesus set us free, but we have no earthly idea how to "actively accept" that freedom. We believe we are saved from death.
Without true pureness of a heart filled with God's love, understanding, compassion, and mercy do we really have the right to exist forever? Do we truly believe God will allow us to inhabit eternity until we demonstrate our willingness to do the work necessary to "change ourselves" into citizens worthy to share eternity with Him? Repentance means change. Repenting means we (not God) make the commitment to change ourselves. God does the forgiving, but we must begin the "doing" before God can accomplish the "finishing".

We need to send a missionary into the field of our own heart to convert every tiny piece of it into a "slave" dedicated to the will of our LORD and master, Christ Jesus. We need to sacrifice our heart, our soul, and our mind at the foot of the cross; then, be willing to do whatever it takes to see our old self consumed in flames.
The only "good" desires are the desires of God's heart. We speak of revival as if it involves setting others on fire while we stand back and add wood when it is needed. We need a revival all right, but are we willing to set ourselves on fire and watch our hearts consumed by the fire? Can we cut the firewood to build the fire to sacrifice our own will?

Have we really demonstrated our willingness to be changed into a new creature or are we just giving lip service to God? Isaiah warns of the consequences.

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:"
Isaiah 29:13

Will we heed the rest of the story?

Sincerely,
A slave-in-training of the LORD Jesus Christ

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