Have you ever seen A Christmas Carol? Maybe like me, you've read the book. In any case, there is a scene in the first few pages where Scrooge meets the ghost of his old partner in business, Jacob Marley. Mr. Marley has returned to warn his friend that unless he changes his ways he will end up exactly like him, bound by the chains that he forged in life.
How true a statement that is!
What Marley is describing isn't that far off. I believe that each one of us form chains in our lives. Heavy, worrisome chains. Chains made from choices. Chains made from addictions. All in all, chains simply made from the sin in our lives that we refuse to let go of.
We all have one. You know, that pet sin, whether in the dark or in the public eye, its the one we have forged the strongest chain for and we literally wear it around our neck.
“His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.”
Job 41:24 ESV
These chains we have fashioned on our own. Maybe it's porn. Maybe we can't make it through the day without taking a drink. Maybe it's smoking. Maybe we eat and eat then when no one is looking we purge ourselves for being such a glutton. What ever the sin is, it will get heavier and heavier until we finally fall to our knees and give it up. If you’ve got pain then give it over to Jesus. If you feel lost then stop right now, right where you are and ask the Lord to guide you where He would have you go. If you need freedom or saving what are you waiting for. We serve a God that can't be bound by any chain or prison known to man or demon. Our God is the ultimate chain breaker.
“But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life." And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, "We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside."
saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."”
Acts 5:17-23, 28-32 ESV
God will do the same thing for me and for you. He doesn't wish for us to keep walking the same old road for miles and miles, listening to the same old lies from the enemy. Trust me, I have found myself in the ditch more times than I can count and worn out from fighting the same fight I've fought my whole life but He wants each of us to have a better life. A life more abundant than we could ever dream of, a life everlasting.
Will you believe it?
Will you receive it?
If so, testify to it.
Tell someone else the story of your chains getting broken and falling off. Testify to the feeling of relief and joy of having you sentence ended by the one that breaks all the chains!
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