Freedom or slavery; good or evil; blessing or cursing; rags or riches are often determined by choice. Personal decisions can be a gift or curse. They include freedom, responsibility and consequences.

Jeremiah saw Jerusalem burning, thousands slaughtered, captured, humiliated, chained and marched to imprisonment. But his captors opened the jail door, removed the chains and set him free. Go wherever you please, do whatever you desire. Supplied with food and a gift, he chose to remain in captured Israel.

Jeremiah’s freedom only lasted a few month. When Israel’s military governor was murdered, he fled into Egyptian exile. Location complicates slavery but it doesn’t change enslavement! Would Babylonian captivity have been better?

In Christ we always stand at life’s crossroads. Choosing Jesus we raise our Ebenezer as ancient Israel pledged under Joshua. Joshua 24:20~21 emphasized how often we break our word. Learning to live under bondage often seems easier than humbling ourselves before God’s commands. What will it be? Bondage or freedom in Christ?