When I was growing up, my dad was an avid bear hunter, so there were always hounds around, Plotts and Black & Tans for hunting bear, and Beagles for hunting rabbit.
The bear dogs stayed tied up most of the time, getting turned loose approximately 3 months out of the year in the fall, when hunting season was open.
One evening, at the beginning of running season (no guns allowed) he turned his six dogs loose to load them up in the truck. Two of the dogs were still young, and had never hunted before. The first one of these young dogs, when turned loose, just sat at the distance where he knew his chain had allowed him to go.
Unlike the first young dog, the second realized immediately that he was loose, and began to run wild, making my dad run after him for over a half hour before he was caught. After all that running around, my dad went back to the first dog, who was still sitting in the same spot, not realizing that he was loose.
In this rather unembellished story is two very prominent examples of the Christian life, especially those new to the salvation of Jesus Christ. Some people take on the attitude that they can live life any way they want to, without responsibility or accountability for their actions.
(But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. Galatians 2:17, AKJV)
We see the results of this in a person's life when they are not mentored and ministered to by an established Christian. Instead, they are left to figure out what God expects of them on their own. Some of the time, it is late in this person's life before they figure out their true Godly purpose.
Then there are those like the dog that was free, but didn't realize it. Some people, after becoming a Christian, will hang onto their past and old ways, and never step beyond the place where Satan had them bound, thinking the chain is still around their neck.
(And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the Son stays ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:35-36, AKJV)
Only when someone comes along, and gently tugs on them do they realize that they can make a move farther than they have ever been before.
Which category fits you?
Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior, but are now running wild in the world because you know the bonds of sin are broken. This is our requirement to Him: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 1 John 3:16, AKJV)
Or, are you the person that has been given freedom in Jesus, but are afraid to to move away from the chains that bound you for so long? Were you bound so long that it has become an intricate part of who you are?
(Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? If you count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. Philemon 1:16-17, AKJV)
Seek the truth of God; seek the release that comes with the freedom of knowing Him, so that Satan cannot keep you bound in chains unseen.
