Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
~ Galatians 4:7 (NKJV)
If one views captivity as natural, freedom from slavery will not be desired, nor will liberty be valued even when offered as a free gift.
© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
OK, then expand on what we receive as heirs of God through Christ. We gain eternal life. Will we not appreciate it because we expect it? Under the guise we're alive now, and we expect to live forever premise? Or are the gifts we will receive as heirs so great we can never fully appreciate them in our human hearts? Trust me Anne captivity however innate it may seem, never feels natural. On the contrary, we intrinsically believe we deserve more and more and more and more. It's true, no?
ReplyDeleteT ~
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can fully appreciate our gifts here, because we know the best is yet to come. As incredible as it is to have the Holy Spirit—God Himself!—living within us, the Holy Spirit is only a guarantee of the inheritance to come while we are waiting for it (Ephesians 1:13-14). In one sense, our inheritance is no more than the eternal life which has already begun. The person living and believing in Jesus doesn't die (John 11:26). But we only experience a portion of eternal life now. We taste and see just a fragment of what is to come.
It ought to be enough to not only know we have an inheritance, but to receive as much of it as we need for now. I think we fail to live off the sufficiency of that sample. The problem isn't that we can't obtain enough of God, but that we cling to the notion that captivity isn't so unnatural that it can't be comfortable.
Remember the fable of the city mouse and the country mouse? The city mouse raved about the good food and comfort of living in a house. Then the cat showed up and the country mouse returned to the country to eke out a meager existence in freedom. I suspect hard work and affliction seemed less unpleasant after a view of bondage.
The lion born into captivity can't know it doesn't belong in a zoo. It cannot long for never known plains of Africa.
But we didn't start out free. And we're not animals.
We're all born into captivity. But does everyone understand, somewhere in our souls, that living in bondage to sin and death is not natural? Or don't some of us love a veneer of sufficient comfort, without any wish for freedom? No matter how high a price was paid to offer liberty to the captive, the captive needs to desire freedom to value liberty. I think it even possible for a person to try to live with a foot in both worlds. Then, because freedom hasn't been truly experienced, freedom is judged as not all it was purpoted to be. And the captive asserts that captivity isn't really all that bad ...
... we intrinsically believe we deserve more and more and more and more.
There is a difference between the captive who believes more is deserved and the freeman who values liberty so highly that he is content with what he has, even while he longs for the more to come.
Living simultaneously in both contentment and longing is the dichotomy of the Christian existence.
I've rambled on long enough. I'm not writing a post, so I'm not going to clean this up. But I'll encourage you to also read 2 Peter 2:19-22, keeping in mind that the first "they" refers to false prophets, who believe captivity is natural.
Is this tied in with the he who is forgiven much, loves much concept? That if we don't realize what we have been freed from, we can't appreciate the freedom?
ReplyDeleteOr is there placed in our hearts that sense of incompleteness that always longs for completeness in Him?
Ooh I love your ramble! I'm so blessed to know you, thank you so much for taking the time to answer so carefully, I appreciate it!
ReplyDelete"Living simultaneously in both contentment and longing is the dichotomy of the Christian existence." Isn't it though? Perfect summary. Well done Anne.
Oh, Susan! You caught that! That's exactly what lay in the back of my heart as I thought through the briefest way to capture this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, T! :D
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