“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 Also: John 8:32.
In an attempt to retrieve an escaped rooster, I set out a live trap in hopes of retrieving him. In the morning I was surprised to see that I did not trap the escapee, but in his place was an opossum.
My intent was not to catch the local wildlife, so I purposed to set him free. I raised the trap door at one end and forced it to stay open with a nearby brick. After gently prodding the animal to leave, the entrapped marsupial would not vacate.
I walked away hoping that when I was not around he would leave his captivity through the open door. One hour later he was still there.
I found a thin stick and tried to push him out of the trap. He refused to turn around and flee. He backed up so that his tail and hind legs were in freedom, but still he remained confined. If I stopped my prodding, he would return back deep into his prison. After many minutes and attempts to push him out with the goad, he finally did turn around and fled to the woods.
While endeavoring to free the opossum, I realized how similar the situation was for so many Christians. Folks have found themselves slaves to their sin. They are trapped by its unrelenting hold on their life. They mourn being slaves to their controlling lusts and other iniquities but are not able to do anything about freeing themselves from its bondage.
Finally, they hear how they can escape the penalty of their sin. They trust Christ as their Saviour and become “born-again” children of God. Their sins are forgotten and forgiven (Ps. 32:1, 103:12), but they still remain subject to their sinful behavior. They continue in the sins that they were saved from. Although they could be free and have a more joyous and productive life, they remain in the same state they were in originally.
Just as that opossum had to turn around and purposely leave his cell, so must a believer make the move to leave his present condition. He is free from the eternal wages of sin, but he has to put “feet” to his repentance. He has to turn around and go the new direction God has for him, as scary or different it may seem.
It may involve leaving the fellowship of the wrong crowd. Not going to the places where the temptation to do activities unpleasing to God’s commandments is an important step that must be done. Stop doing what you now feel uneasy about doing. Do not participate in what you believe God would not have you do.
Instead of feeding the flesh with what it wants to do, one must gratify the new need for spiritual food. Daily reading the Word of God for yourself is essential, as is obeying what is revealed for you to do on its pages. Consistently talking to God in prayer and attending a Bible-believing and obeying church is also important.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Gal. 5:1
The door to a new life in Christ is wide open and awaiting you. It offers changes and opportunities that you could never imagine, but you must choose to walk away from the “old life”, and let God guide you to the new.
Hаving read this I believed it was very informativе.
Ӏ аppreciate you finding thｅ time and effort
to put this contеnt toցеther. I once again find myself
personally spending a significant amoᥙnt of
time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was
ѕtill worth it!
Bro Brinkworth…what a great story!
If one will feed that spirit and deny that flesh, that old man will die…hence Jesus’ analogy of being born again. You are a new creature in the spirit.
The more that old man dies, the less the new man has any desire for worldly culture and sin. I drive by a liquor store every day. Honestly, in my distant past, that had a hold on me… I have been a regular in that very building. However, because I am saved and full of the Holy Spirit, I have zero desire for that place, in fact it is repulsive to me. That lifestyle has no pull on me. That goes for many other areas that God has given me total victory.
By crucifying the flesh and surrendering daily to the Spirit of God in us, we escape the bondage of those prisons that have held us. What liberty!
Forgot to mention: on the link to The Dog and the Dove, scroll down the page about 1/4 of the way until you see the blue banner with the title The Dog and the Dove. The reprinting of the pamphlet begins after that banner. I am not endorsing the beginning discussion on Dualism as I did not read that part of the article.
Bro. Brinkworth,
Excellent devotion and great analogy! It is vital that we feed the right nature within us for the one we feed will be the strong one. There is a great pamphlet written by Bro. Bill Burkett that illustrates this with a parable – The Dog and the Dove. An online printing of it can be found at http://actsion.com/the-dog-and-the-dove/. In this parable, Bro. Burkett vividly illustrates how you must master the flesh nature (the dog) by refusing to feed it and nuture the spirit nature (the dove) by feeding and caring for it in love daily.
“Oh, what peace we often forfeit; oh, what needless pain we bear!” by not crucifying our old sinful nature daily. God wishes us to have abundant joy and peace in this life, and we can have it if only we will continually draw closer to Him. There are endless blessings awaiting us if we are willing to go deeper “into waters we can swim in.”
Thanks for great teaching of the Truth!
I love that old hymn. :>)