Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

CHAINED

December 29, 2010

Ever feel powerless to deal with what's going on around you? You may know that something needs to be done, but you are bound, stuck, cannot do a thing for whatever reason. Paul knew the feeling well.

This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.
                                                 - 2 Timothy 2:9 TNIV

Paul sees the world around him going down the drain. I suspect Paul would have quoted the proverb:  "They absolutize the relative and relativize the absolute." In other words, important matters are laughed off as trivial, and trivial matters enthroned as supreme. And Paul was powerless to do much about it; he was in chains, bound. But not all was chained.

Sometimes we look around our world and lament what looks like it's going down the drain. But God's Word is not chained. It summons hope, courage, new life.  God's Word still brings people to faith, repentance, and the love of God. Much may seem bound, even chained, but God is not. Take heart!

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson