Breaking The Chains of Permission
“All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)
January 26
Carnal affections of any degree offer us opportunities for entanglement. Though we embrace the liberty offered to us in Christ to participate in many forms of entertainment and worldly enjoyment, the scriptures give us this stern warning. Worldly pleasures have the power to enslave us if we are not careful to protect ourselves from perceiving what is merely permissible to be deemed as necessary. Soothing practices we pursue for the soul’s comfort could in fact become shackles that keep us from the true comfort our soul requires that is found only in Christ. Jesus gave us the command to pray that we do not enter temptation, to turn to the Lord for consolation and peace not to other forms of relief. Christ spoke of these substitutes as wells that will only temporarily satisfy the soul but will not truly quench your thirst. He offers to you a fountain of living water that never runs dry, which will sustain you and quench the deepest thirsts of your soul. The command of scripture emphatically commands us to flee sexual immorality, for this sort of comfort is not adequate to sustain our souls. No worldly partner will satisfy the longing of our souls that were made to be enraptured in the love of the infinitely worthy and beautiful God that made us. Every last drop of Christ’s blood was extracted to redeem our soul to Himself, to prove His love and worthiness to be our Savior and God. His sacrifice was not given for us to continue to be enslaved to sin while convincing ourselves that we are free. It is common when those have been taken captive into forced prostitution, that they will ardently proclaim that they are freely engaging in such practices. They will often respond when questioned that they are independently operating, yet upon further investigation they are almost always being coerced and controlled by others who are taking all their money and threaten to beat them mercilessly if they do not fulfill their obligations. Their sense of independence and freedom is a psychological deception and a spiritual stronghold, for they are truly being held captive by oppressors. Christ died to set you free from the power of this self-deception. He has proven to you that your dignity and freedom is recoverable. The shame that imprisons you need not define you any longer. Accept Christ and He will set you free from the chains of permission you have bound yourself with. Receive true liberation that is found only through Jesus, for the scriptures declare, “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
Daily Prayer
Liberator of the captives,
Set free my entangled heart from soothing
shackles of deceptive comfort.
Protect me from permissible enjoyments that
lead me into unforeseen vices that will arrest my freedom.
Captivate my heart in the infinite beauty of your worth,
that all adulterous allurements may lose their power over me.
Sabotage any cloak of liberty that I embrace
that is in truth a treacherous trojan horse of bondage.
Grant me wisdom to avoid the equally devastating
bounds of legalism or licentiousness.
Recover the dignity that has been defiled by means
of compromise and bind my wandering heart to you.