Harriet Tubman, a leader of the Underground Railroad, risked her life to run away from her slave owner. She ran from men with dogs and guns who were seeking to capture her and take her back as a slave. She jumped off a bridge into rushing water because she would be free or die. She was willing to risk it all. What are you willing to do in order to get and live free from sin? How much do you hate being a slave to sin? At what point are you willing to do whatever it takes to get free?
Romans 6:14 says, “Sin shall no longer be your master…” What are you willing to do in order to live that out? Anything that masters you but Jesus has the capacity to lead you astray. Jesus didn’t die for us to remain in sin. He died so we could be freed from it and be freed to live an entirely new life.
Harriet fled to a new location, far away from the old one. She moved from slavery to freedom. She was going to live a new life. She fled 100 miles without anyone helping her but the Lord! She embraced a new identity. She took a new name. She said, “I am Harriet Tubman.” She based her new identity not on her past, not on her experience as a slave, but on her new-found freedom. She was going to become who she was. She was going to live free. She moved from being a slave to being a deliverer of slaves, and in order for that to happen, there had to be a change in her mentality and a change in her mission. Listen, it is easy to change your name, but much harder to change your mindset, your mentality. It’s easy to say, “I’m a Christian,” but going through the process of becoming like Christ is another story. Living free to serve and love the Lord, adopting His mission for your life, takes another level of surrender.
Minty, now Harriet Tubman, had to change her mindset. She had to learn to live free and not think of herself as a slave anymore, and she had to adopt the mindset of a free person. Listen to me…If you are going to live free from the slavery of sin, you are going to have to go to some new places in your mind, friends. You are going to need to leave old ways of thinking behind. You are going to have to stop identifying with your past and the brokenness that you have experienced. You are no longer a slave to sin. John 8:36 says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Not just free from the penalty of your sin, but free from its grip, free from its shame, free from its condemnation, free from its confining labels and limitations and free from its lies and deceit. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”
We don’t JUST get a fresh start, but we are made new to go along with the new life we have received. That happens in our minds as we are “made new in the attitude of our minds” as Paul describes it in Ephesians 4:23. It is a supernatural happening as we allow God to do His work and as we cooperate with Him as He is trying to bring change to our lives.
So, the Christian life comes with a new identity AND a new mindset. Why is that necessary? Let me explain. Often times when people have served time in prison, even though they are finally released and their body has been emancipated, their minds can still be incarcerated. They can still have a prison mentality. They have a limitation mentality. Their minds have to catch up to their new reality. Listen, that is true in the life of a person who gives their life to Christ as well. You are free the moment you say “yes” to Jesus, but the transforming of your mind, the renewing of your mind, (Romans 12:1-2) the changing of your thinking, allowing your mind to catch up with your spiritual reality can take some time, but oh, it is worth it!
What are you willing to do to get free?
What are you willing to do in order to embrace your Christian identity and allow God access to your mind?
Whatever it takes, get free. Don’t be limited by labels from your past. Allow God to prepare your mind to live out your freedom and to bring rescue to others around you.
