As I was getting ready to do my daily email, I noticed some kind of an adhesive substance on the side of my hand. “Where did that come from?” I wondered as I hurried into the bathroom to scrub it off.

I had only been back on the computer for a few seconds however, before I saw it again! That same gluey goo on the side of my hand! Then I noticed that it hadn’t confined itself only to my hand, but that it now also covered my mouse! There could only be one explanation: Before I had noticed it on my hand the first time, I must have gotten it on the mouse, and now it had transferred back to my hand!

Back to the bathroom, I gave my hands a vigorous cleaning, carefully inspecting each finger to make sure it was free of the foreign substance, and then I did the same thing with my mouse. Only when I was satisfied that I was completely free of this goo did I go back to my work.

At least I THOUGHT I was free of the goo . . .

I had barely typed a sentence when I noticed it again: That same gluey goo, mysteriously appearing out of nowhere. I was really perplexed now. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I’d gone off the deep end. But before committing myself to the mental ward of the local hospital, I decided on a brief tour of inspection, and it didn’t take me long to find the culprit: The gel in the wrist-rest of my mouse pad was leaking all over my hand and my mouse!

Once the problem was identified, the solution was easy enough: The trash satisfactorily swallowed that gluey mouse pad, and the following weekend I purchased myself a new one. And I made sure that it was “gel-free” this time. Its wrist-rest is made up of some kind of “memory” foam, and since I had never heard of any type of foam ever trying to escape from its confines, I figured I was okay. Or . . . Could I be wrong???

This reminds me of how often believers leave the safe confines of the gospel message to play in “gluey goo”, and then come away surprised that it restricts their freedom in Jesus. Is it for naught that Paul tells us: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1 NIV)

“But wait a minute,” you say. “How can this be?”

By trying to earn salvation through your own merits. Remember: “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Gal 5:4 NIV)

Friends, if you depend on your own efforts, be aware that you are not heaven bound! Why? Because: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NIV)

Grace is undeserved and it is bestowed on us solely by accepting Jesus, who paid the price for our offences. He is our salvation. There IS none other!

My we learn to turn away from any and all bondage, so that we give it no chance whatsoever of again enslaving us. But there’s only one way to keep ourselves from being bound by notions of delusionary self-salvation, and this is to let God be in charge of our lives. Only then will we remain in His freedom and in His gospel message.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor 3:17-18 NIV)

P. S. Anyone out there interested in a gluey mouse pad?

P. S.S. Freedom in Christ does not mean license to sin freely. It is a license to love one another like Jesus does! “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” (Gal 5:13 NIV)

Rob Chaffart