But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Galatians 4: 9

 

You know, those heavy chains with thick ankle and wrist cuffs that make up the bonds of slavery were never really comfortable or even fashionable. They were a part of my daily wearing apparel for a long time. When I allowed Christ to set me free from the life of servitude to sin that had been my calling from birth, I gave up my need to wear them. He brought me out a perpetual state of weighty oppression and into an eternal one of freedom. Yet there are times when I seem to want to go back. I take on the countenance and the manner of thinking of a slave. These are truly frustrating and even debilitating times.

 

Paul wants me to clearly understand that something profound happened when Christ entered into my life. In that moment I came to know God on a deeply intimate and very real level. Additionally, God took me into His family as a fully known child and a completely vested heir to all of the love, truth, and glory of His kingdom. There is nothing that I do not possess that is needful in this life. There is no reason for me to want to go back to living in my old life. All of what is right and righteous has become mine, and all knowledge and wisdom that is useful for living well is knowable by me.

 

Christ has truly set me free from the old, worldly way of navigating through life. When I find myself confused, disturbed, and disoriented, there is wisdom available to me that will guide me to clarity. During the times when doubt enters into my spirit with its cloud of self-defeating claims about my worth and capability, Christ speaks up to assert His claim to my soul and to proclaim my worthiness. There is simply no rational reason for me to return to old sinful patterns of thinking. There is no longer any need for me to seek comfort in my former methods of coping with life. The chains of that life of slavery have been broken beyond repair by Christ. I am free from their hold upon me, and I can claim that victory and follow God’s wisdom as a free person through all of my days.