Shackles

 The deeper you fall into a pit, the longer it takes to climb back out. There’s an ever-present theory that someone must hit rock bottom before they can start their climb back up toward the light, but some people fall for years and still never hit bottom.

Some people imagine the shackles of sin to be like modern-day handcuffs where you click them on, and that’s all there is to it until someone shows up with a key and unlocks them. Given what the Bible says about sin and how it slowly chokes its victim, a more apt comparison of the shackles of sin would be a boa constrictor that continues to tighten its grip on its victim until all the air has been squeezed out of its lungs.

Corrupt thoughts lead to corrupt actions, corrupt actions lead to a corrupt life, and the more one practices the sin that has latched onto them, the harder it becomes for them to resist or combat it. Eventually, they stop trying. Eventually, it becomes who they are and not what they do on occasion, and their entire life revolves around an unquenchable need for more of the thing they know somewhere deep down is destroying their life.

I don’t cry when I see puppies or kittens. I cried when my daughters were born, once when my grandfather died, and once when my mom died. To the best of my recollection, that’s the sum total of all the times I shed tears, so I’ll never be mistaken for the most empathetic person ever to walk the earth. That said, if you want to have your heart broken, watch some videos of the zombie people in San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, or pretty much every major city. These individuals likely had families, jobs, and homes at some point but whose sin so thoroughly routed them that now they stumble about, hollow-eyed and mechanical, looking for their next fix.

That is the end goal of sin. Make no mistake about it; no matter how pleasurable it may seem in the moment, sin is committed to your destruction.

There are instances when, whether through the strength of will and awareness or family intervention, the shackles of sin release their hold, but they are never taken off. They’re still there, hanging off the wrists and neck, just waiting to tighten their grip anew. True freedom can only be found in Christ. It is He who removes the shackles; it is He who sets the captive free. Anything else is just temporary, an illusion, a respite from the burden that will be doubly burdensome once it returns.

Sin doesn’t make you better; it makes you wax worse and worse, not only being deceived but setting about to deceive others. Misery loves company, and there’s no more miserable a place than the mire of sin.

2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

The reason this occurs is apparent. The next iteration of impostor and deceiver must one-up the previous one. You can’t just say you had a dream or a vision of heaven; that was old school. Now you have people claiming they were teleported to heaven from a port-a-potty and got to give God their two cents as far as what He should do with His creation.

Evidently, God’s looking for input from ditzy Irish cat moms who couldn’t quote a scripture verse to save their lives but have made so many trips to heaven and back that if God offered frequent flier miles, they’d never have to pay for a plane ticket again. 

It may take two to tango, I don’t know, I never have, but it does take two willing participants to deceive and be deceived. There must be one party who plays the role of the deceiver and one party who, although not knowingly, plays the part of the deceived.  

Those being deceived usually share certain traits that open them up to the possibility of being deceived. No matter what nation or continent they hail from, the commonality of their nature is so absolute that you’d think they grew up under the same roof.

That’s the thing about deception; it needs a crack, a crevice, an open window, or a door that is ajar. Deception requires an entry point, an opportunity to do its work, and if a believer is adequately equipped, deception has no means of entering in.

It usually begins with dissatisfaction with what is and a desire for more. It’s not that Christ is not sufficient; it’s that they are not satisfied with Christ alone. Yes, the Bible encourages us to desire spiritual gifts, but astral projections, grave-sucking, past lives, alien spaceships, third eyes, and conjuration are not the gifts Paul was referring to.

We’re mixing up some strange brews and calling them authentic, grade-A, Holy Spirit-certified experiences. The purpose of all this isn’t to be entertained by parlor tricks; it’s to call men to repentance. If the entertainment value is a ten, but the conviction is a zero, you’re likely being bamboozled or on your way to being bamboozled.

Deceivers and imitators will never insist on your freedom or tell you how to be free. The best they can do and the most they can offer is temporarily distracting you from the reality of your imprisonment and the weight of your shackles. Momentary exultation is not transformative. Meeting Jesus is.

If all they did was guess your zip code, pull a rabbit out of a hat, or tell you that your grandma’s name was Eunice, all you did was waste an evening and are nowhere closer to being free. If, however, the message of the cross was presented and Jesus was glorified, if you heard that whom the Son sets free is free indeed, then it was time well spent.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.