By Danny Minton

Chains are a common item. If you walk down the aisle of the hardware store where the chains are located, you will find a wide variety of chains. Depending on their use, the sizes will vary, and the colors may change, but the use remains the same. Chains are made to secure—some secure gates, others doors, and then others, possibly a dog to a post. Chains can be frustrating when we need to get inside or when an animal wants to move around. Chains keep people or animals from being free to move as they please. When the chains are removed, the gates and doors swing freely, and the dog is free to roam at will. 

There are also unseen chains in life. With our oldest son, we had a chain. It was a chain that always kept us tied to him in life. The chain determined where we went, how far we roamed, and what we could or could not do. When he passed away, that chain was broken. You would think that the new freedom would be welcome, but that’s not the case. We had no desire to be freed from the chains that bound us to him. It was a chain with links of love, joy, concern, and a will to care for him. The broken chain brings emptiness and longing to be bound again.

On the other hand, through most of his life, our youngest son also had a chain. There were expectations for him to live a good life, respecting others and following the rules. When it came time for him to be on his own, the chain was broken, allowing him the freedom to make his own decisions in life. Though the chains were broken and there was emptiness, there was also pride in how he moved forward and became a good man, husband, and father. Yet, there is always a chain that remains bound. It’s the chain of love.

So it is with Christ. When we think of an enslaved person bound by a chain, we look at it too often from the negative side of the lack of freedom. Slaves chained together give a picture of not wanting to be there, longing for a time to be set free. In Christ, we are slaves bound with chains. But the chains we carry are linked together with the love of Christ. It is a chain that we are proud to wear, bound to the Savior and His love. On the other hand, to be chained to Christ requires that we break free from the world’s chains.

A slave of love is bound by that invisible chain, one that will not let you roam far away, one that pulls you back again and again, yet one that you have no desire to break. It is a chain that we have no desire to break, and to one we gladly remain bound.

To be Christlike, we must remember that we are bound together by a common chain of love and devotion to the Savior. It is because of these chains that we serve one another. Much like Paul proclaimed in Philippians, it is because of these special chains that others “become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”

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“Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.” Ephesians 6:6

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ