“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).”
In addition to being too blessed to be stressed out and being too blessed to stay depressed, we are too blessed to be oppressed. Any form of bondage is oppression. Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia or any form of discrimination is oppression. We can be oppressed by particular people, relationships, societal laws, corporations, various institutions, etc. Powerful men such as President John F. Kennedy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. remind us of the truth that “until all of us are free, none of us are free.”
Jesus, our Wayshower, knew what it was like to experience oppression. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth (Isaiah 537).” He was oppressed due to his family background, occupation and his religious beliefs. The ministry of Jesus, the Christ, was about setting people free. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).” Jesus freed many women who were oppressed due to sexism as well as men who were oppressed due to various physical and mental challenges.
“He whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).” People today are still being blessed by the life and ministry of Jesus, the Christ. Through his life and example, Jesus continues to free people to be their truest selves. When we accept ourselves for who we truly are, we are free from oppression as well as the shame, guilt, condemnation, lies and deceit comes along with it. “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).”
