Injustice!

188/365

A couple of years ago, I received a desk calendar of Chihuahuas for Christmas. Being completely obsessed with the breed, I couldn’t have been more excited. Every morning, when I got to my desk, I had the pleasure of ripping off the previous day’s picture and being greeted with another little adorable illustration.

You can imagine my surprise when, one morning, I ripped of the previous day’s sheet to find that the dates were out of order. Hmm. After closer examination I noticed…those idiots had left an entire week out of my calendar!

Now, I’m not one to just sit back and dwell on this injustice. I am a deeply involved consumer! Immediately, I took to my email and wrote a strongly worded letter to the manufacturers of this Chihuahua calendar. My basic point: I had not received what I was promised and they were going to rue the day they violated me!

Many people have experienced this same type of situation; after all, we live in a rights-obsessed culture. Our courts are flooded with cases, both reasonable and absurd, in which people feel their rights have been violated. Slight offenses have become major litigations and people are intensely aware of our sense of freedom in economy, government and religion.

John 8:36
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” - NIV

The Jewish religious leaders defined freedom much as our culture does: in terms of political oppression. They may have been dominated by Rome, but technically, they were living in a free territory. They, like us, missed the real issue. Life isn’t about the physical ability to do whatever we feel like doing, it’s about being released from spiritual bondage.

Even as believers, we fall for the lie: “I’m only human.” We use this as a crutch in our bondage and feel as though there is no way out. But, deep down, we know that there’s more to life than the humanity we are settling for. We long for the glory of God’s riches. We long for the place at His feet. We long for the freedom we cannot attain by ourselves.

I suppose that, perhaps, we should ask ourselves: Have we misdiagnosed the problem?