DON'T BE DONKEY...

We have had company for the last few days. Donkey apparently came in through the front gate of our property. What he doesn't seem to realize is that his home is adjacent to us at the back of our property. All he has to do is walk to the back fence and he could return. His owners came over to get him, but he was hiding. We thought maybe he had moved on, but he emerged from the shadows about nine o'clock that same night. The kids love seeing him. The dogs love chasing him. He loves to eat dog food. Donkey gets a little desperate at times. He brays, and then he toots, and then he brays and then he .... well, you get the idea. He really wants to get out of here, and the only way he can remember to is out the front gate again. However, that is not a viable option for him. So, stuck he stays until the rain stops and they can come get him again.
Reminds me of me....and you. The way donkey got free was a gate was left wide open. He saw it, with his partner in crime Nester, and he ran through it. Nester, however, knows the way back. Donkey didn't. Ever done that? Saw some freedom...your buddies were going...so you ran right along. Problem was they knew how to get back. You and I just got trapped somewhere we didn't want to be. Somewhere we can't for the life of us figure how to get out of. Then, we someone comes to get us out we go and hide. Perhaps I should change Donkey's name to Adam. Or Eve. I haven't gotten close enough to tell.
We spend our days crying and fighting off things nipping at our heels. We keep trying to get out on our own, but the gate is closed. We are captive.
Maybe that has been you in your thought life. Found a little freedom to watch this or that and now you are held captive by it. Maybe you with food or drink. Little freedom to eat this or just have one drink, now you are imprisoned by it. Perhaps money. You had a little breathing room in the budget and you went and got yourself back in debt. Now you are enslaved by it. The list could go on. Well, today I want to remind us (and I mean US) of the good news.
We don't have to stay here. There is One who has came to set us free. Christ Jesus. The trip back is through a narrow gate, but it is the gate that leads to freedom. We can choose to follow Him through it. We must choose. God help us choose.

Luke 4:17-19 (NKJV)

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.

And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”