The Ties That Bind

We might all have certain items on the shelf of our heart that are sitting there to be more fully understood and used at a later time.

I witnessed a process where sin came in, and the sin used doubt like a wrecking ball, overtaking and becoming completely hopeless.  Then, the depth of the truth of liberty in the Gospel of Our Salvation was simply believed in and life changing freedom immediately resulted.

Still, there were those who were blind to what had just happened and some were those in charge of "handling" the incident.  After all, it happened to young people who were born again.  As the situation handlers struggled with the young people's previous behavior, they saw the depth of sin but could not see the stunning power of God that had just changed lives in front of them. They had been able to preach about God's power but could not comprehend that the same power that creates a new nature in one born again is the same power that delivers a heart that knows Jesus Christ as Savior but doubts His all sufficiency, and is consequently stuck in a cycle of sin.

The process turned a little ugly as certain rules were set up, certain expectations were raised and certain demands were required.  Scriptural logic was used to batter the soul of the dear ones who, by this time, were already free.  I kept thinking, "There's something wrong here," but didn't know how to define it.  Besides that, the scriptural logic was flawless.

[As a side note, those of the world love to observe these ones who claim Christ as Savior but sin grievously.  They point a finger and laugh because these dear ones aren't perfect after all.  The world sees it as an excuse to continue in their own life of godlessness while proclaiming personal self-righteousness.]

I had been able to conclude that the "something wrong here" was related to the leadership lacking understanding of the process of The Gospel but could not define what happened.  Then, in a Bible study, someone made a comment that caused me to reach for that shelf to finish the missing definition.

It was the story of the demon possessed man and the herd of swine.  A brother pointed out that he was bound in three ways:
(1) Bound by sin,
(2) bound by demons, (both of those resulting in the most terrible inner condition possible),
and then,
(3) bound in chains, (man's reaction).

Finally, there it was.  Number 3!  Our own brethren, reacting in a way that didn't regard the Gospel of our freedom, were tending to do the same with those who had sinned in our midst.  Binding with rules, expectations, demands, and Old Testament law.

(1) Sin binds.
The Lord Jesus releases from sin, but
(2) doubting His all sufficiency binds spiritually
and then we, as brethren who are not of this world, react like men of the world and
(3) bind with the chains of requirements.  That is, requirements to prove that *I am enough, not that HE is enough.

*Yes, dear one, you said it as you entered freedom.  The Gospel in three words - forever.