Before Christ, every human is a slave to sin. But Christ died that we would be freed from it.
The enemy wants to keep us bound. What strings has the enemy jerked that make you feel like your hands are tied? Are there areas in your life the enemy has control over: your hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, mind, or heart? Sometimes the enemy can have us so tied up in knots, we don’t know how to get out. There is a way out, and it’s through Jesus Christ!
Ephesians 4:17-32 (ESV) says, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
I know parts of my heart have been calloused at times and grieved the Holy Spirit—even after surrendering my life to Christ I have made mistakes. I have raised my voice at my spouse and children, lived in fear, grumbled and complained, been selfish, sat in bitterness, and said things I shouldn’t have.
This is not who Christ is. For the sake of Jesus, I must put off the old self and the former way of life and be renewed in the Spirit, and put on the new self, created in the image of God. Life is different after encountering Jesus. Yet sometimes, we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit and allow His perfect work. Life isn’t child’s play.
Jiminy Cricket, a fictional character in Pinocchio, gave a warning saying, “A conscious is that still small voice that people won’t listen to.” He also said, “Now you see the world is full of temptations. Temptations are the wrong thing that seem right at the time.” I know he was speaking to Pinocchio, the puppet tied up in strings, but those statements make me look to Jesus, my Savior.
According to Wikipedia, Pinocchio is one of the world’s most translated books, is likely one of the best-selling books every published, has been translated into 260 languages, and is the most widely read book after the Bible.
The Bible is the most widely read book around the world, and it’s over 2,000 years old! God knew we needed it. The truth of God’s word has carried us through and led us to King Jesus!
It’s interesting to me that one of the most widely read books after the Bible is about a puppet on a string. Oh, the contrast. In Christ there is freedom. Outside of Christ, we are a tangled mess living life as a puppet on a string.
Where do you find yourself today? Are you living in God’s truth and freedom, or are you bound by the temptations and yanking’s of the enemy? Take time to ask God to show you strings that need to be cut to bring the fullness of the freedom He offers through Jesus! By the way, I bought the Pinocchio Marionette as advertised. I knew Mr. Pinocchio would make a great sermon illustration one day. Can you see it?
How can you make Monumental Moments and live to multiply His movement today?
