Reading: Acts 16: 16-34

Today’s text is one of liberation.  The slave girl is set free from the spirit that has possessed her for many years.  The jailer is set free from an oppressive system that has kept him boxed in.  For many of us and for many in the world, freedom is elusive as we are held captive to someone or something.

For some it is the situation they are in.  Addictions to drugs or alcohol control the lives of many people.  For many more, though, the addiction is less visible or it is harder to identify, but it is there, controlling their lives.  For some it is the addiction to power or being in control.  For some it is a secret addition to pornography or sex.  For some it is an addiction to beauty or popularity.  And for some it is their addiction to technology or the latest, greatest, best new whatever.  When our focus is on the things of the world or on ourselves, we can be controlled so easily.

So what or who can set us free?  It is the same thing that set the girl and the jailer free: the power of Jesus Christ.  Giving all of our concerns to Him sets us free.   Loving what Jesus loves and loving as Jesus loves us shifts our focus from what we want to what we can offer.  Finding our contentment in our relationship with Jesus means we do not feel the need for stuff or position or recognition.

May we yield all to Him so that in Him we may find the strength to live each day as a child of God, bearing witness to His light and love, to His joy and peace.