If the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

John 8:36

Olaudah Equiano (late 1700s) was only 11 years old when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He made the dangerous trip from West Africa to the West Indies, then to the colony of Virginia, and finally ended up in England. By the time he was 20 years old he had purchased his own freedom but still had the lasting marks of the emotional and physical scars of the inhumane treatment he had experienced.

Though he had his own freedom, he wasn’t able to enjoy it because so many others were still enslaved. So, Equiano decided to become active in the movement to abolish slavery in England. He wrote down all of his experiences in his autobiography (which was almost unheard of for a former slave back in that time period).

Today, there are countries that still use slavery as a form of servanthood. Our own country was deeply scarred by the atrocities of slavery, and we continue to suffer the effects of it to this day.

Just as Equiano worked towards abolishing slavery and freeing people from it to live a life of freedom in this lifetime, Jesus came to do the same, but He came to give freedom from a different kind of slavery. He fought a battle for all of us who were enslaved and were not able to fight for ourselves. Our slavery, however, is not one of physical chains. We are bound by our own brokenness and sin. Jesus said, Everyone who sins is a slave to sin (Jn. 8:34). Everyone is born a slave, but Jesus came to set us free! Without Jesus, this slavery will last for all eternity, not just this lifetime. On the flip side, the freedom that Jesus offers will also last for all of eternity! Jesus’ promise is: So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (Jn. 8:36).

Perhaps instead of thinking of those outside of Christ as “the lost,” maybe we need to be thinking of them in terms of slavery—being enslaved to sin and death. They have been born into slavery, and they know no other lifestyle. We used to be slaves to sin as well. Let us, like Equiano in our story, be an active part of the movement of Christ to bring freedom to the slaves.