Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone

Hebrews 2:14-15

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

How sick is this? God, Himself, partook in what we go through, the pain, the temptation, the hunger, the thirst, and so much more, so that He could free us. He went through betrayal, death, suffering, He took our punishment for us, so that we would not be held in out bondage to sin. But, we did nothing to deserve this. NOTHING. Yet, God came down, humbling Himself down so much that we can’t even comprehend it, He lived a perfect life, faced temptations that are beyond our imagination, was betrayed by those He came to save, including one of His closest friends, He was mocked, beaten, spat upon, whipped, He was beaten beyond recognition, He then carried a cross (probably upwards of 125 pounds) up a long road, while losing large amounts of blood, while being hit and beaten by guards getting Him to keep moving, He got to Golgotha, had nails forcefully driven through His wrists and ankles. He forgave those that were nailing Him to the cross, asking God to pardon them “for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). I have to wonder if maybe Christ was mediating for all of mankind at that second, asking God to have mercy upon us because we do not understand the levity of sin and because of us, Jesus went to the cross. He did it to bring the Father glory by our redemption and forgiveness. He spent hours hanging on that rough wood, with splinters digging into His revealed back and internal organs, in extreme agony, slowly dying of suffocation, while taking upon our sins, our punishment. He faced separation from the Father for us. Jesus experienced a lapse in His perfect relationship with the Father because that is the price of sin, separation from the Father, yet Jesus took that on for us. He conquered death. He paid a debt that he did not owe because we had a debt that we could not pay. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:13-14).” He went through all of this (the pain, the separation from the Father, humbling Himself from King to peasant, dying for people that betray HIm time and time again, dying for people even though He knows what we will do) to glorify the Father by freeing us from our slavery to sin. How amazing is this? We are free from our chains, we are free from our bondage to addiction, sin has no power over us, death has no sting, we are new creations, we are handed purpose and direction while He takes our aimlessness, we are handed peace when He takes our anxiety and lack of understanding, we are handed love if when give Him our hate, we are handed joy when He takes our misery, we are given meaning and fulness when we hand Him our emptiness, we are given freedom when we hand Him our chains. How could we possibly refuse to live for this? It is so sweet just thinking about the Father’s love for us. How deep, how wide, how overwhelming is His great love. It is never-ending! Even when we mess up, time and time again, He still loves us. No matter what we do! This does not justify sin by any means, but should rather discourage it! Why live for pleasure when you can have satisfaction? Why search for definition from fickle sources that don’t care when we can have definition from our Maker who does not change? But this love, this perfect, pure, incomprehensible love, is what we yearn for so badly, we seek to find it in romance, in relationships, self gratification, friendships, family, movies, novels, we imagine it, but we never find it in any of those places. We can only find pure love at the source of all love. As badly as I want to have this pure love, I honestly could not willingly love someone that I knew was going to willingly betray me time and time again for something that I hate, and no matter how much I forgave them, they would go back to that rebellion. This is the love that God has for us. It is not a stupid love, it is an unconditional love. Nothing you can ever do can break you from the Father’s love! But this love has freed us from our bondage, the slavery that we desire to break free of so badly, but yet are torn and  cling so tightly to. Jesus offers us forgiveness if we give Him our pain and remorse. When He says that He will forgive us, He means it. God forgives and forgets. You are perfect and holy in His sight because He sees His Son in you. Satan will get in your mind, attempting his tricks to persuade you that you are not forgiven and that you will be no better than your past or even your present. He tells you that you won’t be forgiven by God, that you can’t break free of your chains, that you are too far away to ever be able to come back to God. I think we have all heard these thoughts echo in our minds before. We need to know that satan has no power over us any longer. God protects His children, you will face times of trial and temptation though, but you have the Rock to lean on, you don’t have to sink in the storm, instead you can walk on water if you stay focused on the King, if you have utmost faith and trust in Him, if you stay connected with the Father, not drifting to your situation, but bringing your situation to Him. Satan’s hope for a Christian is that they believe that they have no hope and cannot be free of their bondage and that they will only amount to those chains, but God says “get up and walk away, your chains are gone, I have freed you. I have defined you. You are not sin’s but you are mine.” As the song Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone echos in my head the lyric “my chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me and like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace.” How true is this? We have been set free from our bondage, we have been hit with an unending flood of mercy, grace and love. To God be the glory! This wretch is saved through Him. He brought me from my sin, my addiction, my emptiness, my pain, my regrets and so much more and brought me to mercy, peace, purpose, love, joy and so many more things. May our lives truly reflect this saving grace we have been given. May we commit ourselves into the Father’s hands as Jesus did with His final breath on the cross. May God work in and through us. May our lives not be about us, but about Him. May we break free of our oppression to sin. Flee to the One who has saved you. Run to Him who gave His life for you. 

Family, let chains fall off, run to Jesus and let Him work in your very core to make you the man or woman that He desires you to be. You won’t be sorry.

Blessings