Thursday, June 16, 2011

21st Century Psalms - Choose Freedom

My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
Oh God, my Savior
has ransomed me
and like a flood
His mercy reigns
Amazing love, Amazing grace
             - Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone – by Chris Tomlin – 2006 “See the Morning”

Chains hung heavy from their shackled wrists as they were moved slowly through the crowd.  People shouting, yelling obscenities and spitting upon them.  They hid their children from the men hobbling along the dirt streets, with chains between the heavy shackles around their ankles.  Their bodies were beaten and fresh blood oozed from the lacerations on their backs and chests, where the whip had dug into their flesh.  As the approached the wooden steps, some of them would fall which caused a cascade of falling as the chains connecting each of their bodies, one to another, would pull them off balance.  Once they had all ascended the few steps and were all lined up on the platform, they were stripped of any remaining clothing, lest the covering of their loins, and stood there helpless before the onlookers.  Then the bidding would begin.

Did you think I was referring to the disciples, the followers of Jesus Christ?  No, not at all.  I was referring to the slaves that were bought and sold as nothing more than animals less than 150 years ago.  The slave trade in England, Spain and the Americas was big business and took every ounce of humanity away from the men, women and children that were auctioned off like livestock.  The song Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a slave trader from England in the late 1700’s. As I wrote in my book,
Truly Amazing Grace, “..After coming to the revelation of the grace of Christ in his life, it became his life’s passion to abolish the trafficking of slaves because of the inhuman and unjustness.  The song lyrics represent the anguish that John Newton was going through as he struggled to find his own worth in God’s eyes, after partaking in slave trading for so long.” 

In the 1st decade of the 21st century many musical artists have adopted John Newton’s Amazing Grace with refined lyrics.  Chris Tomlin’s version calls out the chains that bind each of us in sin.  The chains of bondage keep us from fully experiencing the love and grace of God the Father as we remain addicted to our own desires in life.  We must understand that God’s mercy and grace will not bend and mold to our desires in life.  They are immutable since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We are to mold our desires to be in line with His grace and mercy you see.  The grace of the Father is available to all mankind if we chose to accept it.  What chains bind your heart to the world today?  What chains and shackles keep you from living all out for the Lord?  God and only God has the key to loose the chains that bind your heart and mind.  The owness is upon you to choose freedom though.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father
,
I lift all glory and honor to You for the freedoms You have given me in my life.  Forgive me, for I am blind to my sin, to the addictions in this life that keep me from serving You completely.  I am unworthy of Your love and mercy, but by Your grace I am accepted.  I cannot fathom the love You have for me, to allow me in all of my filth to enter into Your presence.  I choose freedom from the worlds bondage in my life and lift my eyes to You in awe and wonder.  In Your name we pray – Amen

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