Pirates

I was watching Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one), and the scene where Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner are stealing the British Frigate caused me to think about my faith in Christ.

After faking out the British and boarding the little fast ship, the first thing the two pirates do is to cut the ropes that were holding the two ships together.  I can just see the close-ups of the ropes being cut, one by one, until all the things holding the two ships together were gone.  Only then was the ship free to be under the direction of the captain.

I began to think that my life is one of the ships, and this world I live in is the other.  I wonder how many "ropes" I have holding me to this world.  I wonder how securely I am tied to this world, preventing me from being free, under the direction of my Captain.  I think one of the most relevant statements to the Christian life is "In the world and not OF the world."

The Bible warns us that we are strangers in this world, travelers who are on their way through, and that this world is not our home.  The Bible warns us not to get too comfortable here, not to throw ropes across and anchor our lives to this place.  Yet everything I do seems to wed me more and more to this world.  My concerns of money, my desire for comfort, my lack of passion for the calling of God on my life, my lack of concern for the next world, my being consumed with petty daily concerns- all serve as ropes to anchor me to a place I don't belong.  I wonder how God sees my life- if He sees me as a ship who is so securely wedded to this world that I am unable to follow His direction, His will, His plans.  Am I truly free?