We believe that wise Christians make their days count during our short time here on earth. And not just count for anything, but count in the ways that God has intended for our lives. Sometimes we come against obstacles that hinder the effectiveness of our Christian walk, even hindering us from fulfilling our life’s calling. We need to lay aside encumbrances and run the race of faith with freedom!
In the Bible, Paul told the Galatians, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) The concept of freedom and slavery is interwoven throughout the Bible. From the time of Moses leading the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, all the way through the New Testament where the apostles talk about freedom from spiritual slavery, this running theme is there to help us understand our spiritual condition and why we need the new life that God is calling us into.
Salvation
For example, have you ever considered how the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt was a foreshadowing of the plan of salvation? Their captivity in Egypt was like a person who is lost, then they were called out of the land. And their deliverance from the curse of death was accomplished through the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes, just like the blood of Messiah (our Passover lamb) delivers us from eternal death.
But then in the wilderness, which is like our life after salvation but before eternity, when the Israelites were free from captivity there was a constant temptation to return to slavery in Egypt. Being free was difficult in a way that was different from the hardship of slavery. As slaves, their lives were predetermined for them. It may have been miserable, but it was familiar and predictable, and it didn’t require faith.
But God’s purpose for the Israelites required them to be free, which meant that they had to go out into an unpredictable world and have faith that God would provide. That pattern shows up again and again throughout Scripture.
Laying Aside Encumbrances
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1
We can identify two basic ways that Christians today try to leave their freedom and return to slavery. One is to be weighed down, distracted, and hindered by the cares of this world. And the other, to put it frankly, is bondage to sin. And how do we get past these obstacles? The second verse in Hebrews 12 gives the answer…by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith”.
Here are some examples of encumbrances in our modern culture, that may not cross the line of sin, but can still keep you from living in freedom:
- the endless accumulation of possessions
- the pursuit of financial success and status
- financial debt
- being distracted with screen time and social media
- being too busy
- dysfunction in a family or a workplace
- tolerating toxic relationships
1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” That’s the standard we have to apply to everything in our lives. Whenever you feel something weighing you down, or competing with the Holy Spirit for control of your life, that’s probably something that you need to prune back or remove entirely.
Another thing to keep in mind is that stress is a warning sign that there’s an issue that needs to be dealt with, in order to restore balance and health. Stress can serve a temporary purpose, but if stress has become a permanent thing in your life, that’s no longer living in freedom!
The Trap of Sin
“…through Him [Jesus Christ] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” Acts 13:38-39
In our modern Christian vocabulary, we talk about “being saved”. But the Bible also uses the phrase “to be freed” in the same way. That’s a powerful way of looking at salvation! Sin is captivity. Salvation is freedom.
Ironically, sin usually masquerades as freedom. To the sinner, holiness can look very restrictive. But the test that shows that sin is really a form of captivity is when you try and put it down. If you can’t stop doing something that God calls sin, then that sin is controlling you. It’s slavery, not freedom.
The list of sins that Satan tries to use to entrap us could be limitless, but here are some examples:
- Emotional lives – pride and bitterness
- Social lives – gossip or any time we chose not to love our neighbor
- Physical lives – addictions or sexual sin, or neglecting our bodies which are the temple of the Holy Spirit
- Financial lives – we can become enslaved to debt, as the Bible says, “the borrower becomes the lender’s slave”. Also, there’s the temptation to allow money to become an idol.
- Spiritual lives – The spiritual aspect encompasses all of the above sins, but there’s also a hidden danger of embracing man-made religion, like the Pharisees, instead of the pure and liberating Gospel!
We need to realize that, like us, Satan also thinks strategically. He will focus most of his efforts on our areas of weakness, to lead us to sin, and the Bible tells us that sin leads to death. That death can be emotional, social, physical, financial, as well as spiritual. We should be extra cautious in any area that we know is a personal weakness.
Christians who stray into sin, to borrow the words of Paul, “pierce themselves with many griefs” (I Timothy 6:10). And there is a particular danger for Christians, because when you have been set free from something, and then go back to it, it is much harder to get free of it again! For example, the Israelites were set free from Egypt and they were an independent, sovereign nation for hundreds of years, but when they strayed and eventually went into captivity again, they remained the subjects of foreign powers for thousands of years.
The Israelites had sins that they kept tolerating, and we as Christians need to take that example and not just focus on symptoms. When we are struggling with sin in our lives, we need permanent solutions. We don’t need a Band-Aid fix that covers things temporarily. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we need to end that sin completely. We need complete restoration. Turning back to living a life of freedom!
Walking by the Spirit
We started this article with Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…” And the entire chapter of Galatians 5 is like the handbook on freedom in the New Testament. Verse 16 gives us the secret weapon in the battle for freedom. It says, “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Walking by the Spirit is the key to staying out of the enemy’s traps and it’s also the key to right living. It’s how you stay out of dysfunction and toxic relationships. It’s how you set your priorities so you don’t drown in a schedule filled with fruitless tasks. The bottom line is when we walk by the Spirit, it keeps us on the straight and narrow, because we see sin for what it really is (captivity) and we see submission to God for what it really is (freedom).
Let’s close with 2 Corinthians 3:17, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” When we pursue things that lead to freedom, we can set aside encumbrances and live a life unhindered!
