Set free by the Saviour

"Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped." Psalm 124:7

I was on my way home from work, walking through a bus station to catch a connecting bus I came across a seagull. Looking at it I saw that the poor bird was suspended from the edge of the roof above. He had managed to get his leg snared in a length of wire and was dangling, hanging above the pavement and a subway. The bird was frantically trying to free himself, flapping his wings and try to fly away. He would soar to a height a travel a short distance, before reaching the limit of the wire and falling back to earth. He kept this up for a time, he would then loose energy and flopped on the end of the wire before trying even more frantically to free himself. However the more frantically he flapped the tighter the wire became and the greater the snare in which he found himself. After a while a member of staff came out of the bus station with some wire clippers, he took in the situation and collected a colleague he climbed onto the roof. Grasping the wire he pulled the bird up over the edge of the roof and cut through the wire, freeing both the leg of the bird and the bird itself! Off flew the bird in to the distance, nothing hindering him- able to fly to his natural limits!

That bird, although seeming unknowing, had no way to save himself. He was trying every which way possible to free himself from the dreadful situation he found himself in. Yet he had no way of escape- each struggle only worsened his plight! He needed an outside force to come in and remove the wire.

Observing this situation unfold reminded me of the work of the Saviour. He came to Earth to save sinners. He, in a sense, stepped in as an outside force. He, as the creator, was not subject to the sin which holds mankind bondage. Thus he was able to bear the burden of our sins in his own body on the tree. He removed the wire which prevents us from flying free. We are as John 8:36 says "... free indeed" ("If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed")

Despite this, so many people are still struggling in their sin, trying to free themselves. Unaware of the peril! They try every method available to succeed within their own power. But they cannot. Each struggle they make tightens the noose around them. But they don't realise. They keep struggling. How sad it is to see! Its just one step to the Saviour, yet it is a step that many do not and will not make. How important it is then, that we who are living in the glorious freedom of Salvation live our lives through the power of the Lord to demonstrate to others how wonderful our Saviour really and truly is. That others may be won for him!

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “ Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." 1 Peter 2v21-24