The Unforgiven

“But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants – even though he had no children yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.” (Acts 7:5-6 NLT)

On many levels we’re products of our environment. Our primary sources of education and indoctrination into the system of this life into which we’ve entered is our family. Whether we grow up Princes or paupers our orientation will always be grounded in, not only what we learned, but what we experienced in those circumstances.

Think of the children of Israel who for 400 years knew nothing but slavery. Major W. Ian Thomas describes it this way: “Over four hundred years the children of Israel had been enslaved by the Egyptians, suffering bitterly beneath burdens inflicted by their taskmasters, helpless to save themselves, hopeless but for the fact that four hundred years before, God had promised Abraham that He would act to redeem them. This is the picture God gives us of the unforgiven sinner.”

Right or wrong we tend to uphold the beliefs we learn in our growing up years. Imagine, if you can, for generations your family has known nothing but slavery. Being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and being severely punished if you didn’t do as you were told.

Think of Adam after the fall, after his sin and estrangement from God. He had been with God, walked with God, talked with God, but now he was empty of God’s presence, God’s power, God’s protection.

How do you explain freedom to a slave? How do you explain God to someone who has no concept of who He is or what it means to know Him? That’s who I was before I met Jesus, and believe it or not, that’s who you still are if you are without Him. It’s interesting to think about the enslaved Jews transition from slavery to freedom.

As powerful a man of God as Moses was, he was still, at his core, just a man. Yes, of course, on many levels he was an exceptional man of God, but still only a man. What’s my point? He wasn’t Jesus! The enslavement we experience as unredeemed mankind, while it may look a lot less like slavery than what the children of Israel experienced, is nonetheless, full blown, enslavement to the powers of darkness.

The term used in the verse above that is translated “slaves” is a word that means “to reduce to bondage,” which metaphorically can look like giving ourselves “wholly to one’s needs and service, make myself a bondsman to” whatever we’re in bondage to. What might that look like? A person can have position, power, prestige, great personal success, but without Jesus they’re still in bondage to the sin that enslaves them.

A person doesn’t have to be destitute in order to be enslaved, as the rich young man in Matthew 19 illustrates. Many in our spheres of influence today remain unforgiven because, like this young man, they love their “riches” more than they value forgiveness and eternal life. And here’s the irony, in many cases their “riches” aren’t literal wealth, but a heritage in which they’ve been raised that doesn’t recognize, value, or understand forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

Whatever keeps a person from knowing, loving, and finding forgiveness in Jesus is the reason they’re unforgiven. Whatever THAT is, is what keeps them in slavery!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊