Sunday Devotional - What are you a slave to?

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 NIV)

In Exodus chapter 1, we find that God delivered the Israelites from 400 years of bondage in Egypt. Generation after generation of slavery. So much so that the people who God delivered through Moses knew nothing about being free--slavery was all that they had ever known. They had no choice but to jump when their taskmaster said to. They couldn't say, "no." It wasn't an option.

When God sent the plagues to Egypt and Pharaoh finally let them go, they had a hard time adjusting to this new life of freedom. They still felt they needed someone to tell them what to do. They needed to be busy. They had no idea what to do with all this free time. Their minds were still fixed on being slaves.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath
 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son
 or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, 
nor any foreigner residing in your towns. (Exodus 20:9-10)

God wanted the people to remember Him. To not just sit around and do nothing on the Sabbath day, but to spend the time with Him, in worship, prayer, and studying His word. 

While we work we might "forget" about Him, momentarily. If we get too busy, we might go hours without remembering. This is slavery. Without being plugged-in and in-tune to our God, we're doing things by our own strength instead of His, and our batteries will soon run dry.

Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried 
and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. 
Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. 
(Luke 10: 41-42)

What are we enslaved to? What keeps us from listening to and taking in the Lord? Are we busy serving the church and missing out on the relationship we need to have with Jesus? Are we busy chauffeuring our kids around from event to event? Too busy checking emails and social media? What are we enslaved to?

Today my prayer is that we take the time to think about what seemingly innocuous things we're giving our time to. With God's help, we can decide if we should cut back, and think about giving more of our time to sitting at the feet of Jesus. Let us remember why we are free.

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