In His name, Oppression Shall Cease...
What does this thought mean? Is it a promise? Is it a hoax? Is it something that we were told just to help us cope with the trials and struggles we deal with on a daily basis? Why does it seem like our oppression will never leave us? When I say ‘our’, I mean the world’s oppression. What draws the line that would seemingly label the word, ‘oppression’? Is oppression the constant wars, massacres, and genocides that have plagued this world since the beginning of time? Is oppression the life that has been created as a direct result of man’s refusal to change or refusal to accept other races, creeds, and lifestyles? Does oppression come in the form of slavery, or does it equal slavery? Could we not call the constant recycling of sin a form of slavery? What are we slaves to, or should I maybe ask, who are we slaves too?
Surely there are various forms of oppression that hover over certain locations of the world. That would be the big picture. But there is also oppression that hovers over each and every person. We all know about the oppression that plagues multiple countries, states, and provinces. It comes in the form of slavery, starvation, war, disease, human trafficking, so called ‘honour killings’, and the list goes on. I will also recognize the forms of oppression that we deal with that we have little or no control over. Earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes, just to name a few. But is there an oppression that enslaves us, as individuals?
Off the top of my head I almost feel overwhelmed by the amount of individual thorns that we daily try to pluck from our sides. Depression, guilt, lust, lies, debt, wayward minds, malice, hatred, abuse (in all forms), pornography, violence, gossip. Those are just a few of the many, many thorns we all have in one shape or another. What caused them? Why do we have them? How can we rid ourselves of them? Will we ever find peace? Will we ever truly be free from this life of oppression? There has got to be a way. There has got to be an answer to all that ails us.
Obviously the only answer and cause of all this oppression is sin and the fall of man. Or at least that is what the Bible would have us believe. Is the Bible trying to convince us, or are we plugging our ears so we don’t need to listen and closing our eyes so we don’t have to see that the truth is right before us? I have lost count how many times the evil one has attempted to get me to believe that we just exist. After this life, that is it. We die, we get buried. No afterlife. No heaven, no hell. We just die. We are not here for any greater purpose. I would venture to say that if we all fell into the trap of listening to his lies, we would all be walking around aimlessly. With no souls. With no spirit. Only looking out for ourselves, completely ignoring the world around us. We would in fact be like zombies. But just maybe the Bible’s claims regarding sin and the fall of man is starting to be overshadowed by God’s grace and love in a different light, and I do mean light. All over the world there are agencies and people working towards a better tomorrow. Some in their own initiative, but some of those, under God’s initiative. Following God to the death. Being and emulating Jesus to the lost, the broken, and the dying.
Why is it at this time of year, Christmas time, when most of the world is rushing around, buying gifts and presents for each other and themselves, when we listen to some of the Christmas carols, we hear and sing words that would cause us to think of God’s love for our world. In the song ‘O Holy Night’, one of the very powerful lyrics is, ‘In His name oppression shall cease’. Is this lyric there to help us ‘reset’ our goals? Maybe to help us refocus at a time when we are so preoccupied with the business of the season. We Spend so much time on presents, parties, food, and getting what we want, we forget what Christmas is truly about.
Every year at this time, I dread leaving the house. Everyone is so busy getting things in order for the sake of having the ‘perfect christmas’, that they rarely take time to really appreciate it. It is always me, me, me, and get the heck out of my way or I’m gonna deck ya! What can we as believers do to help restore the faith we follow? We sing Christmas carols at home and at church, to help us remember what Christmas is really about. The coming of Jesus, our Saviour, the world’s Saviour. But there is something about the carols that I struggle with. Why is it that people in the world, who are not Christ Followers, choose to sing them also? Are they just nice songs that help put people in the ‘Christmas mood’? Do others sing them because they help them relax or to forget about life’s troubles? Are Christmas carols just other songs that Hollywood has taken and romanticized to help make the movies more homely? Or do they sing the Christmas carols because they want to believe in a Saviour? Or maybe they do believe in a Saviour but they only want to show it when it is the easiest? Around Christmas time when the majority of ‘Christian’ North America is in the Christmas spirit. What a minute, I almost forgot; are we as Believers guilty of this as well? Have we forgotten to show the world what Christmas is really about? Are we also guilty of living in a materialistic way? Sure, maybe Christ is in our thoughts often, but what do we do to express his love for the world? To show it? To live it?
Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free.
And that the time of the Lord's favour has come."
