Greetings everyone
It’s a holiday! Here in Geneva, it’s the Swiss National Day, and in the English Caribbean, we’re celebrating the end of formal enslavement by Britain. What a day to celebrate freedom! Of course with these double celebrations, my mind is also turned towards the freedom we find in Christ. Thus everyone gets to celebrate. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Galatians 5:1 NIV
[1] It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Don’t Get Re-enslaved
Freedom chanter, Rastafarian mystic, and Reggae artiste, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O.M. (Order of Merit) once put to music the words of another son of the soil, the Rt Hon Marcus Mosiah Garvey O.N.H. (Order of National Hero). This quote was for both visionaries, a fulcrum for long-term liberation. Their call to minority peoples was an invitation to break free of the bonds that keep one enslaved even after the physical shackles are gone.
‘Emancipate yourself from mental slavery/ None but ourselves can free our minds …’ is a serious call for self-determination, self-empowerment, and self-reliance … keys to rejecting oppressive systems. These days many of us are taught to be critical thinkers, yet so many of us are still unnecessarily bound by unjust systems and structures.
Self-Check
To what extent are we critical thinkers? Are we simply thinkers, or critics, but not critical thinkers who analyse what is presented to us before drawing a conclusion? Do we prefer to just follow what others say and do because everyone else is?
Application
Under every oppressive system, there is at least one liberator. S/he would have been emancipated from mental slavery, but often paid a severe penalty for the decision to free themselves and others. I want to suggest to us that it begins with a shift in our mindset. Change, including the kind that leads to the end of oppression, requires a decision to step away from the norms. As a believer in Christ, I propose that there’s more to liberty than mental emancipation.
From Mahatma Gandhi to Marcus Garvey to Nelson Mandela to Muslim Girl, faith has played a pivotal role in what they do. Within the Christian faith, there are several men and women then and now, including Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr, who were propelled by their faith to fight for liberation. For Martin Luther, the struggle was literally for a change in spiritual practices as well as to afford every believer access to the faith in their local language. Talk about liberty!
Martin Luther King Jr was focused on liberation and equality for African Americans, he was also a bona fide Christian leader. His ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’, though differing in content reminds me of Paul’s Prison Letters. Though Galatians is not one of them, Paul wrote to believers who seemed to maintain a half-and-half commitment to their faith.
As believers today, we are also called, on this Freedoms Day and always to ensure that we live in the liberty our faith has bought us. This is feasible when we acknowledge the status of Y’shua Jesus as the Son of God, inviting Him into our lives by the power of God’s Spirit, and allow Him free rein. With Y’shua in control, we are free from Satan’s bonds. In Christ, we are thus able to resist the devil so that the devil flees from us (see James 4:7).
Additionally, we sharpen our spiritual and physical minds by ensuring that we take advantage of the liberty Martin Luther worked assiduously for. We read the Bible, in our language as well as the original when needed to understand God’s nature and also God’s plan for our lives.
We also ensure that we grow in our faith through discourse with like thinkers and even with others to keep us grounded and accountable. Of course, this is undergirded with intentional prayer and time alone in God’s presence. As we grow, we may find, that like all those freedom fighters before us, we seek to ensure liberation for others.
Point to Ponder
So we find liberty in the faith we confess?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
