Get Up. Walk Out. :: Deeper Devotion

By Glenn Ansley

Isaiah 44:22
I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

My pastor once told us about a missionary who cared so greatly for a prostitute that he actually bought her from her owner. For years she had been a slave to him. No one loved her. She was only a means of making money for her owner. The missionary, overcome with compassion, offered to buy her freedom. Her owner jumped at the opportunity to make a quick buck. He sold her to the missionary. Good story, huh? Almost… it wasn’t long before the woman left the safety of the missionary and ran back to the one who treated her so badly. The missionary pleaded with her to come back, but it was to no avail. She willingly chose slavery over freedom.

Child of God, if you have a relationship with the Lord, sin no longer has authority over you. You have been bought with a price and are free to live a life enslaved only to your Father in heaven. Why do you continually run back to your old master? Why do you buy into the lies of wealth, pleasure, and popularity? What makes you so willing to give up the gifts of your freedom for the chains that no longer hold you? Why must your Heavenly Father repeatedly call out to you, “Return to Me! For I have redeemed you.” Do you not know? Have you forgotten so quickly?

Today can be different. You don’t have to remain in the house of slavery. You reside there on your own free will. Get up. Walk out. Return to the Lord today. It begins with a simple prayer. “Lord, I was wrong. I have forsaken You and discounted the mercy Your Son showed me on the cross. Forgive me for living so selfishly. Help me to turn from the sin to which I so eagerly run.”

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