HAVING THE SENSE TO LET GO!

Hunters in North Africa have an easy technique for catching monkeys. They make a small hole in a gourd, just large enough for the monkeys hand to get inside. Then they fill the gourd with nuts. At sunset, the gourd is tied to a tree and the monkey, after smelling the nuts, reaches in and grabs a handful. Because the hole is just large enough to get the monkey’s empty hand into the gourd, it is too small for a clenched fist full of nuts to be withdrawn. So the monkey is captured because he doesn’t have enough sense to let go and escape.

What does this have to do with you and me? Everything! We, too, have a tendency to hold on to things. We hold on to possessions, hurts, grudges, worries, the past, the old and the familiar. Just like the monkey, we don’t realize that as long as we hold on, we are held captive in the same place, unable to free ourselves and move ahead. We are stuck in a trap and are at the mercy of the trappers. So, whatever the situation, God tells us over and over, we must let go if we want to walk in His freedom.

From “The Way to Freedom.”

Question: What things in your life are you holding onto that are keeping you stuck?

Traditions and legalistic religions can be things that some hold on to that keeps them stuck and outside of the freedom that Jesus promised His followers. While not all traditions are bad, some obscure the truth and replace the Word of God. Legalistic religions set rules of what one is to believe, replacing the power of the Holy Spirit as the guiding light in understanding truth. Jesus made it quite clear in John 8:32 & 36: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” and “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” in John 14:6. If we are following anyone other than Jesus, we put ourselves in the position of being stuck in man’s religion, thereby quenching the Holy Spirit. This goes directly against the Apostle Paul’s counsel in 1 Thes. 5:19. Hebrews 1:1-2, states, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.” We must choose whom we will follow!

From: “The Way To Freedom.”