May 28

Christ’s bondage brings freedom

“I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds” (Psa. 116:16).
“I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free”(Exod. 21:5).

Never, until the love of God becomes the all-absorbing, all-controlling, dominating principle of life, can we understand the seeming contradiction in Psalm 116:16, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.” But when every faculty is energized, every capacity filled, and the whole nature pervaded with this transcendent gift, the bondage, the irksomeness, the subtle legalism which more or less characterize the service of incipient believers, are entirely removed. The yoke of Christ no longer chafes, the last trace of servile feeling is gone, and the will of God becomes our free, spontaneous, delightful choice. . . .

Filled with divine love, we love what God loves, and in this condition the will of God is no longer as a yoke upon the neck; Christ’s service is perfect freedom. Faber sings:
“He hath breathed into my heart
A special love of Thee,
A love to lose my will in His,
And by the loss be free.”
(From New Testament Holiness by Thomas Cook. Used by permission of the Epworth Press).

How sweet the constraining love of Christ, like a furnace-blast, melting the “I must” into “I will,” duty into delight. This is the highest freedom possible in earth or Heaven, when my will elects God’s will with unspeakable gladness.

I love Thee so, I know not how
My transports to control;
Thy love is like a burning fire
Within my very soul.
—Daniel Steele.

Read full article...