The Shackles of Morality

I was once in a discussion with a friend about God. Like many discussions with unsaved friends, my friend disagreed with the majority of our conversation. I was telling him about various miracles God had worked in my life, how amazing and powerful God was and how he had changed my life. My friend however believed that my morality and love was a chain, that I was trapped. He insisted that I was a slave to God. The mere irony of this statement took me back. Here was a man trapped and oppressed by the shackles of Sin, imprisoned by his own flesh, telling me that I was the one in shackles.

The conversation ended, but my mind continued to try and wrap around this paradox. How could he see things so twisted and obscure? How could I reach him with such a belief. It was sometime in deep meditation after an hour or two of reading that it hit me. All his flesh could see was my flesh. The truth of the matter was, my flesh was very much chained and imprisoned. It was my soul, my mind, my emotions, my true self that was now free. They had traded places. With my soul free, now my spirit and my soul could communion in harmony. Of course my flesh wasn't too happy about that, all bound up in chains and all. However, with my flesh bound, my decisions were now choices that I wanted to make, that I knew were right instead of what I felt I had to do, instead of what I had to do. My flesh no longer could bind me into situations which were contrary to my soul and spirit's will.

The conclusion that I finally came to was that if Love and morality were chains, then I willfully embrace them to imprison the monster that I would be without them.