UNSHACKLED

I Was Just Thinking About – BEING UNSHACKLED.

The Pacific Garden Mission is the nation’s oldest Rescue mission working to change lives through God’s transformative love. The Mission demonstrates God’s faithfulness in Chicago for over 140 years. The Mission began in 1877 when Colonel George and Sarah Dunn Clarke opened a ministry in a tiny storefront at 386 South Clark Street. A potbellied stove kept out the Chicago chill, and kerosene lamps supplied flickering light. Heartwarming Bible verses graced the walls, speaking eloquently of God’s love. For many years, they have produced and broadcast a radio program, Unshackled. The Vision Statement of the ministry is: “We offer life answers through faith in Jesus Christ, through any season of life, so that our guests become fully functioning followers of Christ.” Their focus is to help Chicago's homeless men, women and children. The Core Values emphasized are: Faith; The Word; Truth and Love. Serving as a basis for these values is Psalm 119:140, “Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.”

In 1738, Charles Wesley wrote the Hymn, And Can It Be? The fourth stanza contains words that stir one’s soul when they are read or sung, especially when referencing being unchained/unshackled:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Russ Taff sings a thrilling version of that which occurs when one pauses to Praise the Lord:

When you're up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams 
And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan's manifested schemes -

And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears;

Don't let the faith you're standing in seem to disappear.

Praise the Lord, He can work through those who praise Him.

Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise.

Praise the Lord, for the chains that seems to bind you,

Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you When you praise Him.

The words of Romans 6:17-19 remind us of the new life afforded one in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote: “Thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed…You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” Also, in John 8:30-32, “As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him.  So, He said to the those who had believed Him: If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The impact of becoming and being unshackled is stated both emphatically and beautifully in Romans 8:20-21, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

This is where Jesus Christ wants one to be! This is the hope that is ours in the completed work of Jesus Christ. In and because of Jesus Christ, we have experienced and been brought into “the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Are you basking in the freedom with which Christ has set you free? For those who have fallen through the cultural cracks of life, do you share this wonderful good news that they, too, can know and enjoy this “glorious freedom” in Jesus Christ?

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.