Somewhere I read that someone wrote, “Christianity does not take hold of your life. Christianity brings liberation.” I wonder about this often. Without a doubt, I know that our faith brings liberation. This is what the Bible teaches us: “Christ has set us free so that we may be truly free. Stand firm, then, in this freedom, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1). Or, as the 2020 translation puts it: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!”
According to Paul, there are only two types of lives: the life lived in freedom, or the life lived in chains. Or to put it another way: the life of salvation, or the life of sin. This is what it means to be “in Christ”: either you are a new person, or you remain an old one. Either your ego rules your life, or the Holy Spirit takes control.
And it is precisely here that I think the person who said that our faith “does not take hold of our life” is mistaken. To take hold of something means to be under new management; or literally, to be under a new hand. As Colossians 1:13 teaches: “He (God) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” Only the life lived under the hand of Christ can experience true freedom. And what would that look like? For the first time, you will be able to choose to love those whom God loves. For the first time, you will be able to be who God truly intended human beings to be. Until then, you will go through life seeing but blind; hearing but deaf.
Thank God that Christ takes hold of us!
PRAYER: Thank You that Your hand rests upon me! ART: Dawn of Spring, Werner Drewes, 1899
MUSIC:
We watch the music video of Rebecca St. James’ song Dawn with her brother Luke Smallbone.
She writes: “It was so special to write Dawn with my brother Luke and then perform it together! I hope the words of this song minister to your heart. In seasons of pain and the unknown, we can remember God’s faithfulness to us, that He brings us Dawn after the night. He is good!!”