Broken Strings

“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.” Galatians 5:1 (NIV) Just before we left on a tour to Alaska, I bought some cheap bass guitar strings. Figuring that they’d do for the trip, I saved a few bucks and wound them onto my Fender Precision. We were only three days in when the first one broke! I didn’t think too much about it until the second one snapped a week later. Then the third! Before that last “E” string followed the doomed path of its predecessors, I preemptively changed it! Since there was no place to buy new ones, I finished the tour on “recycled” strings. The problem with broken strings is that they throw everything out of tune! All the other strings change pitch when one breaks. It sounds horrible and you need to change that wire ASAP. When we allow sinful things in our lives, they have the same effect as a broken guitar string—throwing our spiritual lives out of whack. When things like unforgiveness, envy, bitterness, self-pity, or selfishness are allowed to creep in and hang around and get a foothold in our soul, our whole spiritual “melody” goes sour. We find that it becomes hard to pray, that our attitude gets stale and moldy, and “Joy” is just the long-forgotten name of our third- grade teacher! . . . until you change that broken string. Whatever it takes to deal with your spiritual disharmony, get it done! Give forgiveness. Work on the attitude. Let go of the self-pity. Dump the bitterness and let God replace your selfishness with His ways. It’s only when you get rid of that dysfunctional string that your spiritual melody can become sweet and real. – Kene Jackson   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org