Little Chats With God

Posts Tagged ‘freedom’

 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say we shall be set free?” John 8:33John 8:33
English: World English Bible - WEB
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free?’”

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Um, ‘scuse me, Lord, but wasn’t someone missing something here? Weren’t these descendants of Abraham the same race that had been in Egypt for four hundred years? Sure, they started out there as honored guests, but that’s certainly no how they ended their time there. I seem to recall something about slaves being forced to make bricks for the Egyptians, and being flogged if they didn’t produce enough.

And weren’t they the same ones that had been carried into captivity in Babylon? As I remember, You had become fed up with calling them back to Yourself, and had handed them over to the nation whose gods they had chosen to worship. They were forced out of their homes and marched off to Babylon, away from both their country and the Temple. Sure sounds like slavery to me!

Wait a minute – weren’t they the same ones who, at the very time they were uttering these words, were very firmly under the heel of Rome? Let’s see … governed under Roman law, enforced by Roman Governors; forced to pay Roman taxes; policed by Roman soldiers … maybe not quite slavery, but definitely not freedom!

And that’s before we even begin to consider their spiritual bondage …

It seems to me, Lord, that they were so totally caught up in pride because of their status as descendants of Abraham – a status that they only had because of Your grace in the first place – that they were blinded to the truth of their condition.

Lord, do I do that? Do I allow my relationship with You, or Your goodness to me, to become a pride issue that blinds me to my true condition? I don’t think I do … but if You ever think that I’m doing so, Lord, please give me a swift kick!

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
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5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
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9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
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9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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