“Christ has set us free to live a free life.
So take your stand!
Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.”
~ Galations 5:1, MSG
Those “harnesses of slavery,” others try to put on you can take so many forms. Reasons to worry, doubt, or fear, cause for trepidation, ugly labels, false accusations, and misleading statements are a few weights that can be heaped on by others. But just because they are voiced, doesn’t mean they are true. And just because others think you should bow down to their point of view, doesn’t mean you have to.
Live to please God, not personal sense, and stay free! No slavery to unnecessary suffering for you…
Oh my…..thanks for the expanded view of freedom!
What a wonderful thought to chew on today.
Error has no voice nor power except that which we give.
Sometimes we even do it to ourselves. May we all feel our God-given freedom today and everyday.
I am free by other wrong thoughts about me not to fall into the guilt trap, so is all persons.
I’m very grateful that this website exits “Thanks” Evan! and Thanks for this message!…I’ve been applying this sense of “freedom” to my own human experience and was led to Jesus Christ’s statement from the Bible that we’ve all heard before but I applied it in quiet, deep, humble prayer yesterday morning. I was led to handle a strong fear I had and so was led to what “Truth” really meant to me and working with the word “trust”
“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!”
…….I slowly worked to acknowledge the real meaning of each of those words!
Ye = all / everyone
shall = a loving, divine command
know = understand..a consciousness or awareness not a “past”tense..it’s here and now!
the Truth = God/ Principle..the real and eternal!
and the Truth shall
make = create/build..is in the “present”..it’s already happened! and forever happening!
You = God’s child, everyone is a child of God!
Free!! = true bliss with God always in all conditions!!!
….this depth to my understanding healed an intense physical need at the moment I rose up off the floor!!!..With humble ” Thanks” to God for taking complete control of that physical need!!
God Is Love and in that Love is true Freedom!!!!!!!
Thanks to everyone who comments your words are “like crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table!”
Love to All!! : ) : ) : )
Oops..a grammatical error not exits of course..”exists”..sorry!
Great posting Evan and great comments everyone! A special shout out to Kristen for her comment…I’ll be reading that again a few times because it is so full of great ideas!
At some point in my study of Christian Science I became aware of the subtle “harnesses of slavery” suggestions that come to us seemingly as our OWN thoughts. Just the other day I started to feel badly and at first I considered trying to feel better by taking a nap or maybe eating something. But then I recognized this as a *suggestion* that was coming to me as my own thought and immediately rejected it by countering it with the truth. The list of truthful affirmations from this blog posting actually came to mind:
http://spiritview.net/2014/05/god.html
particularly these:
I AM healthy.
I AM strong and well.
I was able to completely recognize this suggestion as not my own and then thoroughly realized these truthful statements above are what is actually true such that the suggestion immediately vanished and I continued my normal activities that day. I’ve found that recognizing negative thoughts as “not one’s own” makes them easier to counteract. And why are they not one’s own? Because they are contrary to the nature of God and we reflect Him.
Oops..meant to write Kirsten not Kristen. Sorry Kirsten.
Thanks to Evan, and all respondents, especially Kirsten and Brian, for such great insights! Also thanks Brian for the link. I am taking a stand against a physical claim at the moment, and this has been a big help. MBE talks a lot about freedom and liberty in her writings, which I love! It is our inherent right as a child of God.
I am inspired by the sincerity and generosity of all who post on this blog.
You’ve hit the nail in the head again, Evan, thank you!
I am usually quite active on Christian Science in Facebook, I post wonderful articles in different languages that had help a few people and they let me know. Maybe here and there I post some cutesies that made me laugh and make people feel uplifted at least for a second.
However, this past month I had been sharing some political things that had interfered with my peace of mind. I did this because I thought that if it affected our country people needed to know about it!
Well, about 2 weeks ago I had an aha! moment and I realized I was slowly falling right into the political hate-crowd of Facebook. (I thought I was doing my friends a favor by letting them see what I found).
Boy was I wrong!!! One evening when I was about to share one of those political “unfair things”, out of the blue I heard myself asking, “Are you sharing the hate that made you feel so bad so your friends will feel as bad as you do?”
I asked myself what were my motives and priorities for being in Facebook and realize that it was to share as much good as I could, and all that by sharing with my readers my love for God, for prayer, for Christian Science.
Wow! What was I doing? Is this what I learned in CS?
Then it clicked: by sharing all that evil that got me so upset I was doing the same to my friends.
I then decided not to share any political postings anymore, not at all, period.
I suppose that if it is something important enough that needs to be known―my friends will find out anyway, if I share it or not.
I’ll work on being more focus, I will be very careful not to let anything or anybody control my thoughts or actions again.
My path is cemented in doing good to others and if I let others control how I act (and what do I share) I will have a hard time seeing the good that Our Father has for each one of us ―including for those who don’t think as I do politically.
Now I feel free and it feels so good!
Evan, thank you, thank you for this short and to the point treatment for “harnesses of slavery.” I have a 20-year old grandson back East who is in slavery now and struggling to find his way with attitude, self-centeredness, drugs, holding a job. Some result from what others are doing/saying; many self-imposed. Your blog is so helpful. Many thanks also to Brian and Kirsten for their comments.
Evan, should also have said that I am passing on your last line to my grandson (and my son).