Freedom

I heard a story about how elephants are tamed so that they can be used to help with harvesting teke trees in Thailand. What the people do is they take a wild elephant and tie a chain around one of their back legs, and then tie the other end of the chain to a small tree.

The elephant tries to pull and pull but the tree just flexes and the elephant cannot get free. After a while the elephant continues to pull, but the chain around it's leg starts to dig into its skin and cause pain, so it doesn't pull as hard after that. After a while the elephant stops pulling completely. 

At this point the people untie the chain from the tree, but they leave the chain on the elephant's leg. The elephant sees that the chain is still around his leg, so it doesn't try to get free. It thinks it is still captured and is scared about the potential pain of trying to break free. So, it doesn't run. Even though the elephant is far more powerful than the people, it doesn't fight them because it still sees the chain.

This is a very sad story, and unfortunately it is also the state of many Christians. Often times the enemy - and even other people in our lives such as our friends or family - will remind us of our past. What this does is remind us of the chains of our past life. In discouragement and shame we hang our heads, drop our weapons and slip back into the very bondage we have been set free from, except this time it's all in our heads.

We must let God's voice be louder than the voice of the world - louder than the enemy - louder than our friends - louder than our family and LOUDER than even ourselves. What God says about you is true. Free. Forgiven. Loved. Powerful. This is who you are. Everything else is just noise.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." - Galatians 5:1