HOG TIED?

I received an email devotional from a cowboy friend, Stephen Bly, which reminded me of a dream I had recently. In the dream, we were ready to drive across a bridge but the bridge was out, so the vehicle was suddenly plunging toward the depths below. I remember worrying about releasing my seat belt. All I wanted was out of that car as the water below threatened death. I felt like I was hog-tied…..a term they use out west to describe throwing an animal down and binding it by tying the two hind feet and a front one together. This is an important technique to immobilize a calf while the cowboy does his doctoring or gives it some attention.

People don’t like to be hog-tied. Nobody would like the feeling of being in a vehicle plunging to the bottom of a river, hog-tied by the seatbelt. It’s also not good to tie people up socially, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

Sin ties us up more than anything else. It incapacitates us, makes us useless to accomplish any good thing. The Bible says, “Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Sometimes we hog-tie ourselves. Does a runner prepare for a big race by tying both feet and a hand together? She would squirm in the dust while the other racers ran on ahead. Tying ourselves up with sin is a sure way to experience defeat.

What hog-ties you? Is there anything holding you in a vehicle that you need to get out of? Jesus is a bridge that cannot be broken, and we are invited to walk with him across to the other side, from that which brings death to abundant life. Jesus wants to set us free. And if Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed!

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”