My Chains

Luke 8:29, 35
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) ... Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

A few days ago I was watching one of my favorite television shows called "How It's Made". On this episode they were making chains. Some of them were huge logging chains and others were smaller chains. I watched as link after link was put together. These machines would stretch the material to a certain diameter, cut and bend it on a machine, weld some of the links together and finally run it through heat and water to strengthen their breaking points. I was fascinated. You could say I was chained to it.

Some chains are made to hold things down such as the ones in our scripture this morning. They were placed on this man because of his demonic behavior and the safety of those around him or even himself. Over and over this man would break free only to be captured and chained again. But then came Jesus...! When Jesus came to his life and spoke freedom to him, those chains fell off. No longer was he naked and chained to demons. Now he was seated at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind. Praise the Lord!

Something else that hit me during this show I was watching was that some people still wear chains. Some are chained to their sin as Legion was. It will not leave them because they are bound to it. But some people have chains of glory. They are bound unto Jesus Christ as a servant. Chained to Him through love. Those old logging chains of sin are gone and have fallen off, but I see some people with a gold chain around their necks carrying a golden cross. Our Savior was bound to that cross because of our sin, but that cross necklace linked around our necks are a testimony of our lives bound to Jesus! Victory in Jesus!