Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name.

But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again. (Jeremiah 34:15-16)

The Jewish people were on the cusp of captivity.
Jerusalem was under seige and would soon be captured.
King Zedekiah and the people decided to free their slaves who were, ethnically —  Jewish brothers and sisters and fellow worshippers of God.

And then, after a brief time, the people changed their minds, and forced their former slaves back into bondage.

The irony and the tragedy was this: The same Jewish nation who had itself been set free from bondage to the Egyptians, were mercilessly enslaving their own people.

We, as God’s people, are often guilty of the same thing.

We are a people who have been forgiven much.
We have been transferred from a dark kingdom, into a glorious one.
We have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
We are co-heirs with Christ.

But regardless of our glorious position and grace we have enjoyed — we can hold our brothers and sisters in Christ in bondage in many different ways:

• We can place other Christians into bondage when we fail to forgive them. It could be something serious or something very trivial. On occasion,  I have seen people in the church express forgiveness outwardly — but they hold back their affections, attention or friendship. Sadly, this often happens in Christian marriages.

  It’s not true forgiveness, and it grieves the Father’s heart.

• We can create captives through entrenched legalism. Where we use our denominational tradition as the measuring stick for spirituality or orthodoxy. If a person, or another church or denomination doesn’t live up to our traditions — we treat them as outcasts instead of brothers and sisters in Christ. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t confront sin inside the church and warn of dangerous doctrines outside. But we can be dogmatic and divisive over the wrong things (the non-essential things such as style, preaching, movie watching habits, etc).

  If tradition is our banner, we are on the wrong side.

• We can also bring our brothers into bondage — when we hold their past against them. When we exclude those who have since repented and matured from fellowship, from ministry, and from our friendship.

  None of us measure up. None are worthy. But as God has given grace, we too must give grace.

All of these things grieve God, and fail to represent His name.

That afterall was the offense that the Lord mentioned in Jeremiah 34:

“you have…defiled my name …” (Jer 31:16)

When we hold people in bondage, when we go back on grace — we misrepresent God’s character and nature and we misrepresent the gospel. It’s taking the Lord’s name in vain, and it grieves His heart.

There is however,  a healthy bond that we are directed to have for one another.

Ephesians 4:2-3 says this:

“…Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

The bonds that are fitting for God’s family are peace and unity, that is made possible through Christ.

Let us bind each other up — maintaing the bond that was created at the cross.