Put on Your Freedom Clothes 

One of my favorite TV programs is, “Finding Your Roots”.  As the title implies, it leads people on a journey back through their ancestral past. In one particular episode the guest journeyer was Dr. Phil McGraw. As he learned, one of his great great great grandfathers had been an indentured slave/servant. I pause here because the definition of indentured is critical at this point. Webster’s dictionary explains an indentured slave as a person who signs, and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance. Simply put, the person willingly, and legally places themselves into slavery, until a debt can be paid.  The debt may be either monetary or criminal.  Many convicts from Europe chose this option rather than death or life in prison. That could be a precarious position to place yourself.  Unless it is specifically noted, one could labor for years never fulfilling the debt.  The good news for Grand Pappy McGraw came the day his debt was paid. Upon his release he also received his “Freedom Clothes”. That term, one I’d never heard before, nor had Dr. Phil, burrowed deep into my soul. Simply put, it was the suit of new, clean clothing that the ex-slave donned as he began his new life.  Modern-day prisoners receive similar outfits upon their release.  Before we came into relationship with Christ, we too were held tight by the chains of slavery, and a debt that could never be repaid by our own efforts. You may not remember having signed such a document, but old Grandpa Adam enrolled us way back in the garden of Eden. From that point on we were on Satan’s time clock.  Sin was our master, whether we realized it or not.  The Apostle Paul preached it this way, “Don't you 

know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—" Rom. 6:16. Yes, we were all obedient slaves, and many still are. Do you remember that the very first time Jesus spoke publicly, this is what he read? “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” Luke 4:18. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, he promised to rip up that indenture agreement, and pay our long outstanding debt with his own blood.  Of all the scriptures he could have referred to, this is the one God wanted us to be aware of first. Interesting, isn’t it?  It sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?  The catch, if you can call it that, is having faith in the unbelievable. That is a huge task for us earth-tethered humans. But when we, in humble repentance, draw near to our Savior, still clothed in filthy rags, broke as the Ten Commandments, and shackled by our sins to Satan, he draws near to us with the key. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8. Timidly we hold out the cruel irons, he inserts the ancient key and the fetters fall with a heavy clunk.  The weight of sin removed; he helps us put on our freedom clothes.   “… clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”  Rom. 13:14. Just as Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, so he reminds us not to return to the bondage of Sin.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ...”  Gal. 5:1. ”  My prayer today is that we all are willing to share our emancipation stories with the captives of this world. And, if that isn’t good news enough, tell them that their Freedom Clothes are provided in just the perfect size!