The Disease: Modern Day Slavery
Human trafficking is a worldwide enterprise in the 21st century. In the United States, USAID has reported that between 12 and 27 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide.
Even in our American society, men and women are being sold and traded for labor or sexual purposes every day. According to the Freedom Center, three out of every four victims are female and nearly half of modern-day slaves are children. It is hard to imagine that this problem could go unnoticed for very long. The good news is that on Sept. 25, the president took notice of the disease that affects 17,500 American people each day.
President Barack Obama stated that slavery, “is barbaric and is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world.”
With our nation taking initiative in the fight to end modern-day slavery, we must ask ourselves if we, as individuals, are doing what we can to help abolish slavery in our nation. What is it that inspires us to take a stand as Christians against human trafficking? If the battle against human trafficking is a long fight, what will motivate and sustain us to persevere in this struggle?
The Discovery: The Good News That Changes Everything
For Christians, it is easy to forget the essential truth that we were all once in bondage. We were all held captive by our sinful nature. We were all prisoners of our fleshly desires. We could not escape the chains that Satan had kept us in. But that is when, at the exact right time, Jesus Christ came to liberate us from the grips of our captivity.
This is the best news that has ever been told in this world — that Jesus came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18). When all hope was lost, our deliverer came for us. Christ came to pronounce a message of freedom. This beautiful proclamation of the liberty that is gained through Christ is news that changes everything. Though modern-day slavery is an uphill climb, we are able to trust the Gospel message that Christ can restore anything. And since the same power that conquered the grave and freed us from our prison lives within us, it enables us to live a life devoted to freeing others from their captivity. It is only through the Gospel that Christians can continuously fight the battle to end modern-day slavery. It is only by remembering the Gospel constantly that we will be inspired to declare the news of liberation to the men, women, and children held in bondage in the world.
For Christians to take a stand against human trafficking in our world today, they must continually reacquaint themselves with the Gospel message proclaimed more than 2,000 years ago. We must not get away from this good news. It is the only message that can sustain us during the battle to end human trafficking.
The Drug: Gospel-Driven Passion
The only news in the world that allows once convicted prisoners to proclaim a message of immeasurable freedom to others is the Gospel. The reason that many well-intentioned causes fail is because people lose their motivation to continue in the fight against the opponent. In this case, the opponent is strong and very difficult to overcome.
If the war is going to be won it is only going to be by people making the commitment to be in for the long haul. That is why Gospel-driven passion is the medication that all of us need in order to overcome modern-day slavery. By saturating ourselves in the Gospel on a daily basis we will be able to continue strive to free as many captives as we can.
The Gospel is what drives us to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Our passion to see the end of human trafficking in our world is solved by exploring the depths of the Gospel. The light of the Gospel that shines in our hearts is what drives us with all of our strength to pursue ending trafficking in our day in time.
It is by preaching the liberating Gospel news to ourselves every day that will enable us to go to the ends of the earth to see others freed. The more we bask in the glorious work of a Savior, the more we will be inspired to passionately pursue to end of human trafficking.
May the Gospel enlighten our hearts so that we may see the need to go and liberate!
Matt Manry is the Director of Students at Life Bible Church in Canton, Ga., and a student at Reformed Theological Seminary. He blogs regularly at gospelglory.net Twitter @matt_manry.
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