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Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

A fish is not free to be a fish unless it remains a slave to the water. Imagine the ludicrous consequence if a fish should argue: "I’m tired of this watery home. I’ll make one giant leap and hope I land in a tree. If I make it, I will build a nest and then be like—a bird!

Likewise, that bird is not free to be a bird unless it is a slave t...

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Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:39

A fish is not free to be a fish unless it remains a slave to the water. Imagine the ludicrous consequence if a fish should argue: "I’m tired of this watery home. I’ll make one giant leap and hope I land in a tree. If I make it, I will build a nest and then be like—a bird!

Likewise, that bird is not free to be a bird unless it is a slave to the air; nor is a seed of corn free to grow unless it becomes a slave to the soil.

Such statements are called paradoxes: Statements that seem contradictory, unbelievable or downright absurd, but that, in fact, may actually be true.

Our hymn by George Mueller describes Christian believers in similar paradoxical terms:

• A captive is free
• One becomes a conqueror by surrendering their weapons
• Hands and arms are strong to act when bound

Our sinful nature does not appreciate this kind of language. In our culture, prestige, position and power are prized possessions. We prefer the sentiments of Henley’s famous poem, "Invictus":

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

And yet, is it not this same desire that resulted in the "fall" of our primal parents, Adam and Eve?

When you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was…desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband…and he ate it.
(Read much more of this story in Genesis 3)

Not content to be merely creatures, Adam and Eve coveted the position of the Creator. And the rest, as we say, is history.

Like the fish and the bird, we are only free to be the people God created us to be when we accept our place as slaves to His Lordship. This is a profound paradox.

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"Make Me a Captive, Lord" lists a series of paradoxes. George Matheson wrote it as an interpretation of Ephesians 3:1, where Paul speaks of being the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Originally titled "Christian Freedom," the hymn lists a series of paradoxes. The first phrase, "Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free" is related to the beginning of a historic Church of England prayer, "O God . . . whose service is perfect freedom . . . ." This thought is common throughout Christianity, ...

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"Make Me a Captive, Lord" lists a series of paradoxes. George Matheson wrote it as an interpretation of Ephesians 3:1, where Paul speaks of being the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Originally titled "Christian Freedom," the hymn lists a series of paradoxes. The first phrase, "Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free" is related to the beginning of a historic Church of England prayer, "O God . . . whose service is perfect freedom . . . ." This thought is common throughout Christianity, it is also reflected in John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV: "Take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free . . . ."

There are many paradoxes in the Bible. In II Corinthians 12:10, Paul states: "When I am weak, then I am strong." Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" and in Luke 9:48, "For he who is least among you all will be great." And in John 12:24, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."

No doubt Matheson learned this lesson in his own life. Blind by the time he was 18, he eventually had to give up studying theology, which he loved. He then put his time and energy into devotional writing and preaching. As a preacher, he had a profound effect on all that heard him, including Queen Victoria and Oswald Chambers.

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