Scripture Reading: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.” 2 Peter 2:20
I learned several years ago that having a “mindset of freedom” went along hand-in-hand with living a life of freedom, however, I also came to realize that one could definitely exist without the other; we can be deemed free by knowing Christ Jesus and accepting Him as our Lord and Savior, but still have the mindset and actions of a captive. I was saved at the age of 33, after I entered into a discipleship/rehabilitation program. Before going into the program, I had struggled with addiction for twenty-two years, not to mention my childhood that was filled with deep hurt and trauma. So, by the time I had come to the end of myself, I was physically and mentally shackled to addiction, negative thinking, and to the ways of the world. I knew exactly what it meant to live according to the flesh and to be a captive and slave to sin. After giving my life to Christ, I truly believed in my heart that I had been set free and that I was forgiven, but my mind wasn’t on the same page as my heart. No, my mind was still a prisoner to what it once knew, and it would take a daily conscious effort to align my mind and heart to God’s Word so that I could fully live out the gift of freedom that I had been given.
There was one scripture that stuck with me from the very beginning of my journey, and I saw with my own eyes the warning of this verse come alive in the lives of those who would turn back to their old ways after being saved. 2 Peter 2:20, was the verse of awakening for me and I took heed to this warning, and I never went back. Day in and day out, I asked God to not only work in my heart, but also to work in my mind. I developed the habit of living out the Word in my daily life and putting it to practice so that my brain would develop a new way of thinking, and my new thoughts then became new actions. And then the day came, I finally experienced freedom from the mindset of captivity, my heart and my mind were working together in harmony and not separated from one another.
What I came to understand was that it was just as important for the heart to experience transformation as it was for the mind, and I understood by the warning of this scripture that one can certainly exist without the other; and when they exist separate from each other, we are only partially free. Jesus came so that we could live a life of complete freedom, mind, body and soul! It had become clear to me that I had a choice to make (as we all do), that I was either captive to my thoughts, or that I was going to take my thoughts captive; one of these always leads us back and the other always leads us forward in the fullness and freedom to which we were called to live.
“Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your transformational power! Lord, I ask that You would break down the prison walls in the minds of those that are still in captivity and that they would begin to experience the fullness of freedom in Christ Jesus. Amen!”