Broken Chains


 
“Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother
and in his name all oppression shall cease.”
O Holy Night
If my people called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
It's Advent, the weeks leading up to Christmas, what the secular world refers to as “the Christmas season.” During this time radio stations of all varieties, stores and many other public venues play Christmas music. The song I quoted above, “O Holy Night” has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. As often happens for me, the other day, I truly heard the lyric above, “chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.” In his name.

We live in a time of finger pointing, “hate speech”, an obsession with tolerance and bullying. There are people in this world, far too many of them, who believe they can control the behavior of the people around them with legislation or at least, herd thought. It's not working. The more they try to make the world tolerant, the more division and dissension is occurring.

I grew up with friends of all different ethnic backgrounds. We all knew the slang terms for every nationality and we all used them, in good fun. Read those words again, please. In. Good. Fun. Were there hateful, hurtful people around? Yes. And how did we deal with those “bullies?” We ignored them.

We can write laws and demand respect and tolerance all day, all night, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year but nothing will change. Laws do not determine the way people behave. If they did our jails would be empty. In fact I believe that this push for tolerance and political correctness have made things so much worse. We're focused on the wrong part of the story.

Laws will not win. Grace will. I could tease my friends as a kid and easily accept the “Mick” remarks because there was no evil intent. We were good kids who knew which labels could be used jokingly and which ones crossed the line. We acted our of love, not law. Law will not break a chain or help me see a person who is different, as my brother. Grace will. In His name. The name of Jesus is what breaks chains, chains of discouragement, discord and dissension. If we all saw every person as a child of God, whether he or she recognizes that fact or not, if every face was the face of a “brother” all oppression would cease. It will only happen if His people who call His name, stand up and behave as His children. “Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother.” If we're wise we are all slaves to grace and grace wins every time.


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