Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jer. 17:14)
Expanded Passage: Jeremiah 17:5-14
A few miles from the community I lived in for over twenty-five years is an area called Freedom Road. It was a main route on the Underground Railroad that operated in western Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. Enslaved people traveled these routes in search of freedom from the chains of slavery. Salvation and freedom in Christ had meaning to a man or woman bound to the cruel convictions of bondage and servitude.
Slaves were wounded by their cruel masters. But Christ’s wounds bring healing, and his suffering saves us. Redemption in Christ is our purchase out of the bondage and slavery of sin. Depending on him as our master does not enslave us but brings freedom. Keeping our eyes on Jesus raises us above the dreadful evil this world can inflict.
A short walk past the marker designating Freedom Road, there is a simple cemetery where unknown slaves who died on their journey are buried. The markers are plain wooden crosses on which these words are written: Enslaved and Known Only to God. Slaves sought salvation and healing from the oppression of their world. While unvalued and oppressed in life, many came to know the equality of freedom through a personal relationship with God. While they may have been known only to God, their souls were healed, and they knew freedom at last.
Tell someone today how you were healed and set free!
Susan Gordon lives in Wadsworth, Ohio, where she enjoys riding her e-bike, walking, serving as a volunteer in her city and county parks, photography, and spending retirement making memories with her family.
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
