With the exposure of the slavery in Libya, there has been an ongoing uproar from voices all over the world and on social media about what needs to be done to put an end to this problem. What is happening in Libya is devastating but through this tragic news the Lord spoke to my heart about the issue of slavery and bondage in the Church.
God revealed to me that so many of us have an opinion on the situation in Libya and we are seeking to solve that problem while we have our own issues that we refuse to address in our lives. It is so easy for us to look at a national outcry and join the crusade to help and I agree that we should because we are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth but before we can change the world we must become the change we want to see.
God is speaking so clearly on this topic, He said many of us are outraged at the slavery we see in Libya because we associate slavery with chains, but we are not outraged at the slavery in our own lives.
We have been deceived into thinking that because we are not in chains and because we are not being sold to the highest bidder for money that we are free, this could not be further from the truth.
A specific look at the church will reveal that though we are ministering the message of freedom to others a lot of us have never experienced freedom ourselves and we are still living as slaves. We live in bondage to ungodly mindsets of fear, doubt, unbelief, hopelessness, pride, sexual immorality, poverty, lust etc.
The biggest evidence of slavery is not in the world, it is in the Church. The Church has become a slave to religion and the traditions of men. We are working for God, working to win God’s approval, working to be in favour with men, working for position and titles. Ultimately, all of this is working out of flesh and not of the spirit, neither is it of God.
While our lives show the evidence of slavery, the truth is some of us really have no desire to be free. When I think of the slaves in Libya, I imagine that at the first glimpse of freedom, anyone with an eye to see would run for the chance to have it and experience it. Then I look at the current state of the Church and God says my people have no desire to be free. We have become so comfortable in our bondage of religious practices, church attendances and responsibilities that we have no desire to disrupt the status quo. We want the life of freedom but we love the comfort of bondage, certainly we cannot have both.
The greatest social activist that walked the earth was one many people could not understand, especially the people who pride themselves on upholding the status quo. He was fearless to speak out against injustice and oppression and He was the ONE that set the captives free from demon possession, sin and bondage. He also set the people free from being slaves to the religious systems of the day and spoke openly against religious bondage that cultivated the ungodly mindset of slavery rather than Sonship. Jesus was the most radical of all time, He still is.
Jesus did not just grant freedom and liberty to those who needed it, it was the freedom and the liberty. He embodied everything He did and was an example of it. As His Church, His body in the earth, why have we fallen short of displaying that same glory? How can we minister freedom to others when we display no true freedom ourselves? How can we minister unity when we are divided? How can we minister love when we show no evidence of it?
I believe it is on the heart of God to deal with these issues right now. True transformation cannot and will not come to the world unless it comes to the Church. While we seek God on what to do in the fight against slavery in Libya, let us more earnestly seek God on what He wants to do to set us free from bondage in our own lives, in our hearts, in our minds and in the Church. Lest we seek to free others but we ourselves are bound.
