I’m happy to have Savannah Hartman here today at Live Uncaged who shares a perfect post for you (and me!). You can meet Savannah at her website http://www.savannahartman.com. Show her some love and comment below. 🙂

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Get Out and Stay Out: Living Uncaged Means Staying Out Of The Cage

Imagine that you have just encountered what you believe may be the most incredible bird to ever exist. It is so captivating that you barely notice the poor excuse of a cage it is nestled in. The once intricate and ornate wire work that enclosed it are now bent and mangled, worn down from time and use. The cage is filthy, and all it does is take away from the beauty of the bird inside it. Love and compassion for the bird swells deep within your chest and you decide to buy the bird, at great cost to you, just to take it home and set it free.

Once home, you release the bird. It bolts out, spreading its wings and soaring. For weeks it continues as it roams freely around your house; but one day to your surprise, you wake up and find it has nestled itself back into the disgusting cage. Your heart aches at the sight and slowly after time you coax it out and it is once again happy and free. For the duration of its life this pattern continues over and over to no avail, soaring free and happy until once again putting itself back in the confines of the cage.

Over time I have learned that we are that bird and Christ stepped in, paying a great price he didn’t owe to free us from the disgusting cage of sin that entrapped us…a cage that we didn’t deserve to be set free from in the first place. In return for this freedom, we repay him over and over by stepping back into the cage that bound us before, unable to ever truly experience the lasting freedom that was intended. “In [this] freedom Christ has made us free, stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].” Galatians 5:1 AMP

To prevent this from happening, we need to remember that once we accept the freedom Christ purchased for us we are NO LONGER a bird bound by sin and locked in a dirty cage, but a free bird that can live and soar and experience all that he has for us. – Galatians 2:20

We need to avoid what comes easy. The days of doing what we used to do, saying what we used to say, and being who we used to be have to go. It is often those old habits that lure us back to the cage in the first place. If it’s the easy way, it probably isn’t the right way. – Matthew 7:13-14

Above all we need to strengthen ourselves with the Word of God. Through reading scripture, listening to teaching and preaching, reading books and implementing the principles learned into our lives, we are setting up best practices to help us stay out of the cage of sin. – 1 Timothy 4:13-16

Q4u: What is your cage today?