TO BE FREE TO SERVE OUR LORD WITH HEART AND MIND

 

 

What happens to us when we are addicted? Our minds are held hostage by the addiction and are not free to explore and discover. Instead, they are always drawn in the direction that the addiction is pulling them.

 

This means that the mind is no longer able to freely pursue its work and duties without encumbrance. It is in bondage.

 

Perhaps our minds are all in bondage to a certain extent. Sin - our fears, anxieties, desires, and the need to defend ourselves against threatening thoughts has brought our minds into captivity. This requires us to obsessively repress whatever threatens us.

 

Consistent with this are several surveys of those struggling with PTSD which found that PTSD was not so much the product of what soldiers had seen but what they had done - things that ordinary were so unacceptable to their self-concept and conscience that they had to repress them. Perhaps then we all suffer from PTSD to lessor degrees, unable to confront our repressed thoughts and feelings.

 

If this analysis is correct, then the words of Jesus take on an additional meaning:

 

·       So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

 

This applies most directly to freedom from the guilt of our sins. However, this teaching should not be limited to this. Humanity is in bondage in many ways that prevent us from seeing the beauty of the Gospel and responding appropriately to it.

 

When I was a new believer, I began to realize that my mind wouldn’t take me where I wanted to go. It felt as if I was coming against a series of locked doors that wouldn’t open. However, through the mercy of Christ, my mind to be liberated:

 

·       Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36)

 

Jesus frees us from the curse:

·       “Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” (Matthew 13:14–16; Romans 1:24-28)

 

This freedom now enables us to use our minds, eyes, and ears for His glory sake. What a privilege!