Morning, Zane.
Ready or not, here goes another day! Question: What if today was the LAST DAY?—the very end of all days as we know them? Are you ready for that possibility? According to Biblical revelation, it’s not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN. I find myself these days reflecting on a song—“Could it be that this would be the day that starts eternity, the day that we’ve been waiting for so long? Could it be that yet today, the King of kings would turn and say, ‘Pick up that trumpet—blow it loud and strong!’ Could it be the soul of me is sensing soon it will be free—is that my soul that’s telling me to look up in the sky and see—there’s something in the air—I can feel it everywhere! Yes, there’s something in the air!”
Meanwhile, and along with this sense of anticipation, is an overwhelming volume of unavoidable mundane work and problems to solve. I’d better keep moving.
Blessings on your day. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.
Once again, we have a huge amount of inspirational material to process in this short reading. For now the word “captive” captivates my attention. If Biblical revelation is TRUE, whether we like it or not, we all enter life as captives to “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” That’s simply a natural consequence of THE FALL which deposits into the DNA of the entire human race a SIN NATURE. The GOSPEL proclaims, however, that we are not required to remain in that condition—that we can respond positively to God’s gracious love Gift and be BORN AGAIN—transformed by the Divine Nature (John 1:12; 2 Peter 1:3-4). And that’s why the GOSPEL is such GOOD NEWS!
Remember the incident early in Jesus’ ministry where the scroll of Isaiah was handed to him on a Sabbath with the expectation to read and comment? Here is the passage He read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,(That’s us!) and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…” (Luke 4:18, KJV). Then He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21, KJV).
We could make a list a mile long (…at least a kilometer) of supportive scriptures. I’ll just remind you of Jesus’ words in John 8:31 and 32: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Free from what? Free from the captivity of the NATURAL SIN NATURE. And without this break to freedom, our captivity remains.
Here’s how it works: MAN’S WORDS AND IDEAS PERPETUATE DECEPTION AND CAPTIVITY. GOD’S WORD OFFERS TRUTH AND FREEDOM.