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For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
Reflect
If you’ve ever used super glue, there’s a good chance that you’ve glued something unintentionally – like your fingers. The adhesive bonds so quickly that in just a few seconds your fingertips can be fused together.
In a way, that’s how our words can sometimes be – they can “super glue” certain qualities to people, and they’re usually traits that people don’t appreciate. I’m reminded of when my daughter was in first grade. We found out that her teacher often said hurtful things to the students and even made fun of them at times. She would mock them with phrases like, “Do you not have any brains in your head?” A year in this teacher’s classroom left my little 7-year-old daughter feeling that she was foolish and inferior.
Parents – or any adult, for that matter – probably don’t think much about how words can hurt a child. But that’s the way sin works. Without thinking about it, we can super glue problems to people – or even ourselves – with hurtful words and actions. And we all tend to carry around the burden of these problems like weights on our back.
If you’ve fused your fingers with super glue, you know that it’s a mistake to try to rip them apart. If you do that, you’ll make the situation even worse by tearing the flesh on both fingers. Again, it’s much like the spiritual situation we face when we super glue hurtful words and actions to people. We can’t simply tear those words and actions away. Just like super-glued fingers require the proper solvent, our wounded spirits also require the solvency of the Holy Spirit to loosen the things that don’t belong.
Would you like to be freed from the hurt, devaluation, depression and loneliness that life has super-glued to your spirit? Our well-intended efforts tend to thrash, pull and tear, but that only does more damage than good. But the healing that comes through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit is the only solvent that brings true freedom.
(One of my favorite stories about this very thing comes from Veggietales. Yes, it’s geared toward children, but “A Snoodle’s Tale,” while sounding like a story written by Dr. Seuss, has a thread of genius. It’s 14 minutes long, but it’s worth the time it takes to watch.)
Reflection copyright © 2022 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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