Being entangled is restriction
You cannot serve God freely while you are entangled
I think of thickets
Or a snake like a boa constrictor
who wraps itself around its victim, slowly
And how both of those can stop activity and even life
Or quicksand
They all have qualities that can inhibit movement
Stop you from doing something
Freedom in Christ is vital to our Christian walk,
vital to our obedience to the Lord
vital to the way the Lord calls us to live for Him
We are aware of sin and sinful types of entanglements
such as the love of money
Typical sins we think of:
lying, stealing, harming someone else
too much food or alcohol
but following a person instead of Christ is less well-known
being entangled with obligations
rather than being free to follow Christ is also less well-known
It is sin indeed
The parable of the sower mentions one such restriction
where the word was choked out:
And some fell among thorns;
and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: Matthew 13:7
Entanglement can come in many forms
Debt is an obvious entanglement
Any duty or obligation
A job and its requirements can be an entanglement
Impossible to name them all but entanglement comes in many forms
Let everything be done as unto the Lord
All else is wood, hay and stubble
Usually, there is error in our thinking
that has allowed us to get entangled
Perhaps valuing a person higher than we ought
Considering their teachings
above those that we believe the Lord can show us
If we are entangled with the world,
we are less able to serve Christ
If we are serving man in any form,
that is entanglement
Nothing we do apart from Jesus is important in His sight
In one instance,
Jesus didn’t even want people to bury their dead relatives:
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Luke 9:60
Brothers James and John brother left their father
and his shipping vessel with the hired men
to go and follow the Lord (Mark 1:16-20)
Jesus gives us choices
If He asks you to choose
and you choose something other than Him,
it might be a very serious choice in your life,
one that you may not even realize until Judgment Day
We can take things day by day
We follow Him if we have chosen to do so and then,
He ask us to do this and that,
sometimes little,
sometimes easy,
sometimes big,
sometimes we have no idea how significant
but always meaningful
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Not looking back after we have put our hand to the plough,
Serving Jesus in magnificent and seemingly insignificant ways
Obedience
Eyes on Him
The race is before us
Looking for the prize of the upward calling in Christ Jesus
Choosing Christ in every circumstance
Choosing love and forgiveness
Being a cleansed vessel of His word, projecting light:
Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16
We are to serve no man, no human,
zero entanglements,
no matter how much we esteem them,
all our honor and praise belongs to Jesus the Christ
who is perfect in every way:
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14