Are We All Slaves To Something?

The word “slavery” sounds so harsh and confining. I say the word to myself and think, “I have never and will never be a slave. I’m way too controlling for that.” Then I look at the second sentence in my quote and grimace a bit. Therein lies what holds me captive, my master. My desire for control and perfection is a heavy burden around my neck.

The slavery this verse is talking about is the restritction the Old Law had over the Galatians. They lived with a burden that had rigorous demands and was almost killing them to meet. Do you live with restrictions in your daily walk with Christ? The restriction that stains your thoughts with negativity because it creates a continuous cycle of disappointment. We all carry some type of burden around us that enslaves us. Maybe yours is pride, or vanity, or self-consciousness, control of situations, worry, or maybe even addiction. My yoke is perfection. Even if I know I am not perfect and can never be perfect, I still see it show its ugly head daily. I know that God loves me for who I am and nothing I do can stop Him from loving me. I know I bring nothing to God’s table that He does not already have. Yet, I still get disappointed in myself when I have an accident or say something that did not come out just right. I still lay in bed at night and go through my day and what I said to see if there is something I should be ashamed of. Old habits and ways are hard to break. The yoke is hard to lift. It’s heavy and cumbersome. Sometimes I’m just too tired to lift it off my shoulders. I sink back down and think that it is easier and comfortable to have the burden on me. I’ve been carrying it around for years, I’ll just keep it there. The habit of the Old Law was hard for the Galatians to break. They had lived a life of restrictions for so long, they couldn’t imagine life without them. Their misunderstanding of the freedom Jesus gave them was hindering their relationship with Him.

Paul tells us in Galatians 5, that the heavy yoke of slavery we have been carrying around is no longer there. We've carried it around for so long, we imagine it’s still there. We still feel the weight of it and remember how it made us feel and that tricks our minds into thinking it’s still there. It makes me think of the sensations some people experience after an amputation. This sensation is called phantom limb pain. They experience pain in the part of the limb that’s no longer there. This pain is real. The pain originates in the spinal cord and brain making the person feel this pain when the source of the pain is not really there.

When Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again, He removed our yokes of slavery. He set us free. For the Israelites, this meant that the burden of the Old Law was removed. They no longer had to carry around their sins and the expectation of living a sin free life. The Old Law revealed their sins to themselves and those around them. They had to publicly ask for forgiveness of their sins at the temple. By following this law and striving to live up to its expectations, they thought that was how they gained favor with God.

With the New Covenant, belief in Jesus Christ and having faith in our Lord and Savior is the only thing we can do to gain favor with God. We can let go of the burdensome yolk we carry around because Jesus took it off us when He was nailed to the cross. As He walked that long road out of the city where He was hung, He was preparing Himself to be weighted down with all our sin and burden. He took it off us and freed us from the guilt and shame of sin.

If carrying our burden around is a habit like the Galatians had with the Old Law, we need to retrain our thinking to freedom from that habit. We need to recognize when we feel it weighing us down and give it back to God. One commentator puts it this way, “The liberty spoken of here does not refer to the kind of life a person lives, neither does it have reference to his words or actions, but it has to do with the method by which he lives that life.” If we live by a method that hinders us from freedom in Jesus Christ, we are missing the full understanding of Jesus and His death and resurrection. We can daily pick up the cross of Jesus Christ and drop whatever holds us back from Him. Our trust in Him renews us each day. We cannot carry everything at once. Which will we choose, to carry our heavy burdens out of habit or carry the light and easy freedom of Jesus Christ?

Digging Deeper:

Read Matthew 11:28-30

What is weighing you down? What are you a slave to?

How does it creep into your life daily?

What old habit do you need to break so that you can stop being a slave?