I believe there’s a new bondage out here. And I don’t necessarily mean new in a sense that it’s never been seen. But I do mean it in a sense that it’s overlooked and unrecognized as such.
I call it the bondage of the “way it used to be.” Borrowing from Ecclesiastes 7:10, longing for the good old days. People are extremely fearful of change. No matter how good it can be. And no matter how necessary it is. It used to be this way, therefore it should stay this way, right?
I was thinking about the Israelites being freed from Egyptian captivity and later wishing they were back in Egypt. Wishing they had the “delicacies” of the land because manna, food from Heaven, and water from the rocks, just wasn’t getting it done anymore. They used to eat different in Egypt. They used to have what they considered to be “options.”
I was wondering, what would make them long for Egypt? They had prayed for freedom and now had it. But life used to be different. And what used to be was familiar and seemed more secure than what was to come. They didn’t realize it, but they were in bondage to the security of familiarity.
How many of us are in that same bondage? How many of us don’t really want to move because we’ve never been there before? How many of us prayed for the new job or promotion, but don’t really want it because we’re not used to so much responsibility? How many of us just don’t really want to commit because we’re not used to committing?
Success cares nothing about what used to be. Freedom is being free from what was, to experience what can be. Don’t let the bondage of the known keep you from experiencing the freedom of the unknown. Why be a slave when you can be a master in your own right? Stop being comfortable with what used to be and start being comfortable with what can be.