This week WSA Headmaster Steve O’Neil and I played G.I. Joe at Fort Gordon by participating in their Augusta in Army Boots program. It is a brilliant program which introduces the ordinary citizen to the life of a soldier. Since only about three percent of our population has served in the armed forces, we have a lot to learn about the sacrifices these brave men and women make to protect our Constitution. As a result of this experience, I grew to admire military personnel even more—something I did not think possible. Additionally, Steve and I gained insights into leadership in general and our styles of leadership in particular. Those insights were sometimes humorous and I will share them in upcoming posts. However, as enjoyable as the experience was I did not escape contracting the swine flu from one of the soldiers who thought he was having an allergy attack. That is the explanation I also had for my early symptoms but my alert physician identified them for what they really were as confirmed by the nose swab. So now I am quarantined for the next seven days (today is Saturday, September 5, 2009). All that is a long segue to thinking about true escape from the slavery of sin, which was our theme for last Sunday.

One minor point that I made Sunday was that legalism can lead to further enslavement to sin just as licentiousness can. I was confirmed in this conviction while reading Jonathan Aitken’s new biography of John Newton. Aitken observed that Newton tried to offset his early years of sinful indulgence with religious reading—even memorizing large portions of theological texts. Apparently he thought that if he could discipline himself enough with Bible reading, prayer and fasting he could cure himself of his lusts. However, legalism only produced greater bondage. Newton himself described it this way, “It was poor religion. It tended to make me gloomy, unsociable, and useless” (Aitken, 35)

Yes, he had to quit the immorality but the solution was not to turn first to his own efforts. In anyone’s case it is first to turn in faith to Christ. Utilizing means of grace to know more of Christ will result in liberation. Newton would later explain this proper order in the world’s favorite hymn, “twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.”