. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you
obey . . . —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit
when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one
responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a
slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to
myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I
yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will
find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within
the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature
created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the
nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you
become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,”
whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or
escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power
of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who
can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “.
. . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke
4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon
realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can
give up that habit whenever I like, ”you will know you can’t. You will
find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded
to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same
time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will
break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
To what have you yielded?
To
whom have you yielded?
We
are willing participants in the slavery of our will and affections.
We
often develop Stockholm syndrome with regard to sin, Satan and self.
Yield yourself to Him.
Set
yourself aside.
Purposely point yourself at His promises to find yourself free and
found in forgiveness.
No comments:
Post a Comment