Emancipation

 

11/18/2020

John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

In our world today, individuality is celebrated…or seemingly so. However, if you pause to look closely at today’s society, there is very much a hive mind mentality going on. “If you are not with me, then you are totally against me!” This attitude can be found in every social construct there is right now. So we have the paradox of celebrating the individual unless they do not act and think like you. It is a crazy time indeed.

In today’s study, Chambers talks about our individuality as it pertains to our relationship with God. Here is where we can often fall out of step on our journey with Him. It is true that He made us all beautifully different with diverse gifts, but we are supposed to have a shared mindset when it comes to the essentials of the Atonement of Christ and God’s Holy Word. We are also supposed to, after yielding to Jesus, have the same purpose: sharing the Good News of the Gospel. It is in our individuality—or self—that we go astray. Chambers writes, “We are designed with a great capacity for God; and sin and our individuality are the things that keep us from getting at God.” I know that as soon as either sin or my self-seeking attitude rear their ugly heads, I am not aligned with the Holy Spirit. It is a visceral feeling, and a truth that I cannot escape. Chambers continues, “God delivers us from sin: we have to deliver ourselves from individuality; i.e., to present out natural life to God and sacrifice it until it is transformed into a spiritual life by obedience.”

There is the O-word again, and one that I certainly struggle with. Being a “naturally” hyper emotional creature really hurts me in this area. It is not so much that I am being willfully disobedient to God, but in my emotional state, I often try to fix things or intervene in areas that He has not called me into. Because this is an area of struggle for me, I need to be even more vigilant in actively and consciously releasing it to Jesus in obedience. Chambers adds, “God will not discipline us, we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring every thought and imagination into captivity; we have to do it.” It is part of our spiritual emancipation. When Christ frees us, we are free indeed!

Lastly, I will leave these words of Chambers for us to ponder. “It is what Paul means in Galatians 2:20—‘I have been crucified with Christ,’ his natural individuality has been broken and his personality united with his Lord, not merged but united.”