Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover. Remember that you came out of the house of slavery. This feast is commanded memory - a rehearsal of freedom that happened in the past, made present and real through ritual.
When I lead the Passover meal in our church, I watch people taste unleavened bread, eat bitter herbs, drink wine. The whole meal is designed to move you backward and forward at the same time. You remember what you suffered and what you were saved from. And that memory shapes who you are now.
I've walked across Exodus passages in Bible college, but I've never understood them the way I do now that I've been enslaved and freed myself. I was addicted to pornography for fifteen years. I tried to quit. I couldn't. And then through church and counseling and grace, something broke and I got free.
When I eat unleavened bread now, I remember haste - the haste of leaving that old life. Bitter herbs - the bitterness of that slavery. But also freedom. Also newness. And every time I remember it, it confirms my identity. I'm not enslaved anymore. I'm free in Christ.
That's why God commanded the feast to be repeated. Some memories need to be rehearsed until they become so real they shape your entire identity. You are a person for whom God broke the power of bondage. Never let yourself forget it.
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