DISCIPLINE
Can we talk?
I learned something about freedom that I didn’t understand when I first came to Christ:
Being delivered from something doesn’t mean I should keep giving it access to me.
I know what bondage looks like.
There was a time when drugs controlled me. Alcohol controlled me. Sexual immorality controlled me. Lying, stealing, anger, selfishness and the desires of my flesh were not just things around me—they were things that had become part of the life I was living.
Those chains in this picture aren’t decorations.
They represent a life I actually lived.
But they also represent something else:
A life Jesus brought me out of.
And as I’ve continued walking with Christ, I’ve learned that there is a difference between deliverance and discipleship.
Jesus can break the chains—but now I have to learn how to walk as a man who has been set free.
Jesus said:
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”
— John 8:31–32 NKJV
Notice what Jesus said:
“If you abide in My word…”
That’s where discipline enters the conversation.
Freedom in Christ isn’t permission to live however I want because I’m under grace. Freedom means sin no longer has to be my master.
There are things I have to tell myself NO to because I’ve already told Jesus YES.
No, I can’t go everywhere I used to go.
No, I can’t entertain everything I used to entertain.
No, I can’t feed every appetite that demands to be satisfied.
No, I can’t allow every emotion to determine my response.
No, I can’t keep returning to things Christ delivered me from and call myself free.
That’s not legalism.
That’s discipleship.
Paul said:
“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection…”
— 1 Corinthians 9:27 NKJV
The longer I walk with Jesus, the more I’m learning that spiritual maturity requires something our flesh doesn’t like:
discipline.
Prayer when I don’t feel like praying.
The Word when something else has my attention.
Forgiveness when my emotions want revenge.
Silence when my flesh wants the last word.
Walking away when temptation says stay.
Obedience when compromise would be easier.
And here’s the part we can’t miss:
Biblical self-discipline isn’t self-reliance.
God has not called me to defeat my flesh through my own strength.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
— 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live differently.
So when I look at that old version of myself sitting among those chains, I’m not looking at somebody I’m ashamed to acknowledge.
I’m looking at evidence of what Jesus Christ can do.
And when I look at the man walking up that road, I don’t see somebody who has arrived.
I see somebody who is still walking.
Still learning.
Still surrendering.
Still being corrected.
Still being disciplined.
Still becoming more like Christ.
And still completely dependent upon Jesus.
That’s why this picture isn’t simply “before and after.”
It’s “before and becoming.”
Because until Jesus calls me home, He’s still working on me.
So here’s the conversation:
What has Jesus delivered you from that your flesh keeps trying to convince you to revisit?
And maybe an even harder question:
Are you asking God to break a chain while continuing to feed the appetite that keeps putting the chain back on?
Freedom isn’t doing whatever I want.
Real freedom is being able to tell myself NO because I’ve already told Jesus YES.
Can we talk?
Real conversations lead to real change.
#CanWeTalk #RealConversationsLeadToRealChange #FromChainsToFreedom #FreedomInChrist#transformation
