Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. -- Galatians 4:8
Those who reject God are not escaping some servitude or
slavery. They are not free to think and
do as they please. The great deception
of the world is that I can, as “Invictus” says, be The master of my fate/ The captain of my soul. We are never without “gods”. If we lack knowledge of the true God, we are
drawn to follow the false ones, as Matthew Henry says, adding then: Those
who forsook the God who made the world, rather than be without gods, worshipped
such as they themselves made.
Paul expresses the same idea in Romans 1:25 in speaking of
those who … exchanged the truth about God
for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…. And, again, in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, we learn
those who chose to remain in ignorance and deceive themselves will be sent “a
strong delusion” by the Lord Himself that they may be locked and held captive
by that which is false. Only in Christ
do we have peace with God and liberty.
For this reason, among others, we do well to remember that
our struggle in life is a spiritual one.
The creatures of flesh and blood that would oppose us, do us harm, and
otherwise oppress us are themselves deluded to a greater or lesser extent. Do not fear them. At the end of Fargo, Marge chides her prisoner for his bloody crime spree saying
it was for a few dollars. You can look
at the men who have held the title of “leader of the free world” over the last
hundred years, and, aside from a couple of exceptions, they are mostly small,
shallow men, perhaps clever, some decent enough, but not anyone you would want
your child to emulate. Most sought power
and adulation to fill the emptiness in their souls, thinking that by ruling
over others, they might find freedom. It
never happens. They, too, sell their
souls for false, vain promises and illusions.
Do not envy them. The bill is
due, and Mephistopheles knocks.
7 comments:
Those who forsook the God who made the world, rather than be without gods, worshipped such as they themselves made.
If ever there was a lesson our young people needed to learn (and I am not what any but a very young person would consider old), this is it. An awful lot of us can't seem to tell the difference between actual freedom and the leash happening to be pulling in the same direction you think you want to go right now.
Paul, it's every generation. I was young in the '60s and '70s and thought I was free because I was doing "what I wanted" only to find out, as you say, I was being led like a beast to the slaughter.
"The great deception of the world is that I can, as “Invictus” says, be The master of my fate/ The captain of my soul."
Indeed. One must be deluded to think he can master his fate rather than fulfill his destiny.
There's a song called "Evergreen Shore". It starts like this:
Once I took control
Of my very own soul
And the charting
Was left up to me.
But I knew not the way
And I woke up one day
To find I was lost out at sea.
The storm clouds above me
Were threatening and fierce.
My whole life was out of control.
I was caught in the current
Of sin and disgrace
'Til the Captain reached down
For my soul.
We ain't talking about Captain Kangaroo.
Thanks, Dwaine!
Those are outstanding lyrics! Segues well with what Bob has been talkin' about too. :)
I found the song here:
http://youtu.be/u0KOMImuXTI
Great bluegrass song!
The Isaacs version is the one I have. Yes, it's good.
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