Laying Hold of Your New Life // Reaping the Harvest of Righteousness, Part 4

<p>Jesus talked rather a lot about slavery on the one hand, and freedom on the other. If you’re a slave, freedom is a big deal. Now He was talking to you and me – still is. Because this whole freedom thing isn’t a theory lesson, He wants us to live it. Freedom!</p> <p> </p> <h4><span style="color: #ff9900; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Free At Last</strong></span></h4> <p>Now, I want to share something with you today. Yours truly, I have to tell you, I am not stupid. I might be short and slightly dumpy; I may have more grey hair than that of the original colour; it may be that I can’t draw a picture for nuts; there are lots of things I can’t do; lots of things I’m not great at and lots of things I’m just not. But God has blessed me with a pretty nimble mind, so I’m not stupid.</p> <p>Now the point of me telling you that is not to boast. The point is: even though I am a bit of a bright spark, I spent the first thirty six years of my life in slavery. And here’s the thing: I never realised it! That’s the point. We can be as smart as smart can be; we can be as clever as clever can be on the one hand, but completely miss the whole point of life, on the other.</p> <p>Do you get it? I mean, I kind of realised that something wasn’t quite right. I kind of realised that I didn’t have the joy and contentment in life that I was so looking for in everything I tried. But I simply had no idea that the reason for that was because I was a slave … a slave to self; a slave to sin.</p> <p>Now, this idea of slavery may seem a little harsh or extreme. It may seem that I am somewhat overstating the case when I say that I was a slave to sin. After all, slavery is a brutal thing. Let’s just stop and think for a moment what it means to be a slave. A slave is someone who has no rights. His or her master can abuse them; they have to do what their masters tell them to do; they have no freedoms; they can’t come and go as they please. And if we look at slavery down through the ages, slaves are the most oppressed of all people.</p> <p>Somehow, inna