Broken Chains
There are many songs which include something about our chains being broken. We can sing them as a statement of fact or as just words in a worship song.
Our chains are broken. But do we live in the good of it?
Tethered
In the past bears were chained to a pole and could only move in circles within the radius of the chain. When the bear was rescued and the chain broken, it would still limit its walking to that small circle until it was taught otherwise.
Baby elephants were chained to prevent them running away. As elephants got bigger the weight of the chain was not changed. The elephants were conditioned to the restraint of movement so early in their lives.
Thankfully these practices are dying out, but the image can act as a metaphor for us. As humans we can still be holding ourselves back due to the lies we have believed. Our chains aren’t visible to others but they can still be holding us back.
The enemy is good at persuading us that our doubts, fears and experience of rejections are still in place. This becomes a self-limiting belief.
God has broken the chains. He has given us the strengths, resources and maturity to break free of these restrictions.
Confirmation
Our minds can still be consumed by the darkness. But the Bible confirms to us that God breaks chains.
‘He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains.’ Psalm 107:14
‘Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.’ Psalm 116:16
A new creation
When we ask Jesus into our lives, we begin a new relationship with him. We become new even if we don’t feel it.
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!’ 2 Corinthians 5:17
For some people at that moment of salvation everything of the old is stripped away. But I think for most of us it happens bit by bit as we have the capacity to cope with it.
Each new revelation leads us to live in a ‘new normal’. Sometimes we cling to what we know even if it’s harmful, because we fear what the new normal might look like. But as we trust God with our lives, He is working on us, taking us one step at a time towards being more like Jesus.
‘So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord -who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.’ 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)
This is our new identity. We have many talks on this website about our identity in Christ. You may like to listen to the most recent talk by Mark Mitchell.
