She tried to quit many times, but found the addiction had quite a grip on her. Finally, when she was in her forties, she gave up smoking--and as her concerned daughter, I couldn't have been happier.
You can imagine, then, how incredulous (read: peeved) I was when my mom told me she still has a cigarette now and then.
I could not understand. I mean, why (why, oh why) would you dare to dabble in something that once had such a hold on you--something you fought so hard to stand up under?
I know why. I get it now. Because I do it myself.
Not with cigarettes--I've never touched one of those foul things in my life. But I have my own way of returning to my broken chains.
I get too close to the things from which I've been delivered. I forget the weight of the things I used to wear. And once I'm close enough to the things that used to hold me, it's not long before I'm bending down to slip my hands back into the ties that once held them. And before I know it, my feet are wearing the shackles again, and I'm yielded to a yoke of sin.
Bound. And once again wearing burdens I was never meant to wear--all because I bent to touch my broken chains.
Anyone else guilty of getting too close to their broken chains?
It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm then,
and do not let yourself
be burdened again
by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
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