Willing Captives
After what He has done for us, nothing is too great for us to do for Him. Our body, our soul, our spirit we cheerfully render up to His dominion, neither count we ought of our nature to be our own. As He has redeemed us entirely, so in the entirety of our manhood we belong altogether to Him; and if there be a part of our nature which has not been subdued to Him, we desire Him to conquer it by force of arms, for its rebellion against Him is sorrow to ourselves.
Jesus is our rightful Lord, His wounds attest it, and any other lord hath dominion over any other portion of our nature, that lordship is usurped and ought to be cast down. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ claims us in the same way as Jacob claimed that particular portion, for we are His spoil, taken in battle.
Almighty grace bowed us down when we were stiff-necked; almighty grace delivered us from our habits of sin when we were fast bound by them; almighty grace broke the iron bars of our despair and led us into liberty; let all the glory be ascribed unto the Almighty Redeemer. With a high hand and an outstretched arm He brought us forth from the Egypt of our lusts and taught our willing feet the way to the heavenly Canaan.
And now we grace His chariot wheels as servants, not in manacles of iron, but in silken fetters of love.
‘As willing captives of our Lord;
we sing the triumphs of His Word,’
And confess Him to be our Master and none beside.
— ‘The Way of Honour’ - ‘Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit’ Vol. 19 p. 352 (C.H. Spurgeon)
O, beloved!
We know such pain this side of eternity, do we not? We know that all of humanity is either captive to sin or captive to Christ, yes? But beloved, one kind of captivity is that which binds in manacles of iron, and results in death. And the other kind of captivity is that which binds in silken fetters of love, and results in Life! Which shall we choose, beloved? Which indeed?!
Consider with me all He has done for us, beloved? He has loved us with an everlasting love, even when we were entirely unlovable (as we are still, in fact). He has planted His Word in our hearts, and given us a desire to know more of Him. He has placed us in and amongst of a Body where we can learn to love and forgive, and practice confessing and repenting, over and over again. He has revealed Himself to us in our pain and sorrow, caused us to grieve and ache that we might long to dwell with Him forever. He has promised us Forever Love, Forever Peace, One Day! All that He has given already, beloved! Do we not want to be His willing servants?
We give Him ourselves cheerfully, yes? We ask Him to subdue any bit of rebellion in our hearts. We ask Him to do His will, not our own. We are grieved by what grieves Him, aren’t we, beloved?
We wouldn’t want any other Master, would we? For who could be gentler, more gracious, more powerful, more loving, more tender, more forgiving than our great God? He changes not, beloved! His Love for us is forever - no matter what comes!
May we delight to be bound by Him, beloved! May we thank Him, that He gives us the honor of being His captives! For He is a gentle and just Master! He binds us only with His Love, beloved - nothing more! Isn’t that amazing?!
Therefore, we will bow low before Him Together, today and every day! We practice bowing now, beloved, but One Day, the worship of our Beloved King will be our one vocation, our holy aim! I can hardly wait, beloved- for such joy as this!
Willing captives, beloved! This is who we are, now and always! Praise Him!