Free Indeed

The gravity of the Great Commission is to realize that all men are created in the image of God. That goes for the foster child celebrating their first birthday to the terrorist crying “Allahu Akbar” before a mass murder… every single one of us is created in the image of God.

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You’re probably saying right now, “Yes, I’ve read Genesis 1:27 before, I’m following you.” Good! I’m glad we are on the same page. But I want you to consider the question: what does living that truth look like in our everyday life? To answer that question, I want you to rabbit trail with me for a second to one of my favorite books.

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My sisters and I love to read Priscilla Shirer’s Prince Warrior series together. It is the story of many children finding themselves in Ahoratos, the unseen but very real world. There, they meet their guide, Ruwach, who instructs them to put on their armor because the enemy of Ahoratos wants to destroy them. The kids are called into the enemy territory to save the Adam-figure Rook from his captivity. Chapter 20 has one of my favorite quotes. Ruwach spoke, “You wear the shoes of peace. To bring the good news to the prisoners who need to be set free. And, every prisoner should have the chance to experience freedom.”

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So why do I tell you that story? Because Ruwach is right: every prisoner deserves the chance to be free. No matter who they are or what sins they have committed, despite nationality, their dreams, or religion—every prisoner should have the chance to experience freedom. We were once ourselves prisoners. You may still remember it well. Years of living by your own desires, years of pain from your own sins, but Christ saved you from that. True to His word, He fulfilled the Isaiah 61:1 prophecy—He came to bring freedom to the captives—and today, He uses us to spread that Good News to the people around us.

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Isn’t that amazing? God wants to use us to spread hope and peace to those hopelessly trapped in the enemy’s prison. What does that look like? It looks like praying with that one friend who is going through a breakup. It looks like smiling at your cashier at Walmart, even if they are getting on your nerves. It looks like going on a mission trip across the world and starting up a conversation with someone completely unlike yourself. Because the people in your inner circle, the people you approach in your everyday life, and the people outside your comfort zone all deserve a chance at salvation, a chance God may be preparing you to bring.

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My father and uncle are teachers for a Messianic television series, “Our Jewish Roots.” They were in Israel filming a show on King Josiah’s reform of Israel when the Hamas war started. My uncle Josh was in front of a camera recording one of their episodes when sirens began to go off overhead, warning them to go inside. Instead, he kept going, fueled with a message that is equally as relevant now as when he spoke it. Here is what he said: 

 

“The bombs are going off behind me right now, you can hear it. We are living in the last time, in the last days. You don’t have time anymore to say, “It’s not my job.” We don’t have time to live in complacency and say we love [Jesus] on a Sunday or on a Wednesday, but then go live like the world and hide in complacency. Every time you’ve been called to speak the truth in love to those who don’t know, those who…may lose their life today [and] will spend an eternity separated from the Father. Reform begins today and it begins with you, and all He’s asked you to do is stand for Him, the way He’s died for you.”

 

The gravity of the Great Commission is acknowledging that every single person on planet Earth was created in the Image of God. And maybe, just maybe, you are an instrument in God’s plan to free captives and bring hope to the world.