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Imagine the teenager who anticipates getting all dressed up for prom or a church banquet. She has dreamt of this day and has imagined how beautiful she will look. On the morning of the event, she spends a few hours on the farm with her family, digging in the dirt and planting the seeds for their garden. The recent rains make the ground soft and malleable, perfect for planting and also for throwing a clump or two of mud at her brother.
As the time approaches to meet for dinner, she heads to the house to clean up. The warm water from the shower washes the grime from her hair and loosens the mud her brother caked in her ear just before she ran inside. She scrubs the dirt from under her fingernails and uses the special soap with her favorite scent, saved for special occasions.
She has spent weeks finding the perfect dress, hours doing her hair and makeup. And after getting completely ready to go, she slips on the heels she knows she will be more than ready to kick off at the end of the night and walks out the door.
Yet instead of walking down the paved driveway to the car for a ride to the event, she returns to the field where the family had already finished planting for the day. She walks straight through a mud puddle where her heels sink into the soft ground, leaving them to fill with muddy water. She bends over to retrieve her shoes and slips, landing in a heap. In the process, clumps of dirt stain her carefully selected dress and she wipes her face with the mud, losing an earring and smearing her makeup.
What are your reactions to this young ladies’ actions and choices? Are you wondering why she went through all that effort to get cleaned up only to walk through the mud and dirty herself again? What was she thinking? I’m sure none of us would ever do that... Or would we?
She was free of the filth. Yet she turned right back to it, even after being clean. The spiritual application of this physical illustration is a vivid reminder of the ridiculousness of our actions and choices.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
2 Peter 2:19-22
Entangled, enslaved, overcome, corrupted, defiled...
Unencumbered, freed, liberated, pure, undefiled...
When stated so clearly, the choice is obvious. Yet, the lies we fall back into become the hindrance of freedom through truth and righteousness.
Are you recognizing the lies, replacing them with truth, and remembering the truth?
Choose truth today and remember the truth. Replace the lies with it. And if you don´t know what entangles you, ask God to reveal the lies so that you can recognize them for what they are—the filth that overcomes you.
Thank you, Redeemer, for offering us the opportunity to not only get clean, but to remain clean—freed by Truth.
#IronRoseSister #freedom #truth #MichelleJGoff
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Freedom is found through Truth while lies enslave and entrap.
“My son got diabetes and died from complications of the disease because God was punishing me for marrying a non-Christian... I’ve made so many bad decisions in my life that there is no way God wants to hear from me. I feel like I can’t talk to Him because I know He won’t listen to me.”
This was not a statement I expected to hear from a seventy-two year old woman, one who had been a Christian for years, but who was letting Satan have the last word.
Humbled by the scenario before me, I thanked God for the opportunity to speak words of truth and freedom into this sister’s life. She had been living her entire life entrapped by Satan’s lies, burdened by guilt.
I began, “You have three grown children, right?” A loving glimmer filled her eyes and she responded in the affirmative.
“And, even today, when one of your kids is in trouble or has done something wrong, do you want them to avoid you or come to you so that you can comfort them, advise them, and show them love?”
“Well, of course I want them to come to me!”
“And do you think that our loving Heavenly Father is any different when one of His children messes up? Don’t you think He longs to comfort us, advise us, and shower us with His love?”
“I’ve never thought of it that way before...”
The following Sunday, upon greeting my friend, her face was one of peace and she looked as if she had lost 100 pounds off her already small frame. The joy stemming from her newfound freedom was unquenchable. She had embraced the truth of God’s abounding love, giving Him the last word in her life.
Satan wants to rob us of the abundant life Christ offers (John 10:10), but there is hope for redemption, freedom, forgiveness, and even a clean conscience! Shame and guilt do not have to define our lives and our relationships.
Satan creates a negative filter through which we see our actions and decisions. We become focused on our sin and unworthiness instead of the grace and forgiveness that God offers.
Even if we have intellectually accepted God’s forgiveness, it can be hard to forgive ourselves, especially on an emotional level. The shame we feel from our past sins overshadows the cleansing power of God’s grace.
God’s forgiveness is real and redeeming. When He buys us back, the slate is washed clean. We are able to start anew.
“ ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isa. 1:18).
Taken from Chapter 10 of Who Has the Last Word? Cutting through Satan’s Lies with the Truth of God’s Word. We invite you to gather with a group of women to walk together toward freedom—true freedom that is only found through Truth. Even today, you can take advantage of the invitation to freedom through the Lie/Truth Chart: Recognizing the Lie, Replacing the Lie with Truth and Remembering the Truth through a specific Bible verse.
