Mention 007 and someone will say, “James Bond”! This character, created in 1952 by Ian Fleming, was named after a Canadian ornithologist. Later Fleming said, “I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest name I could find!”

Bond may be a dull name, but it occurs over 100 times in the Bible and like James Bond it often appears where the action is! Take the Apostle Paul as an example. He was responsible for killing and imprisoning many Christians until he became one himself! Later from a prison cell he wrote, “I suffer trouble as an evil doer even to the point of bonds (chains).” Then he writes triumphantly, “But the word of God is not chained!” [ 2 Timothy 2:9 ] How right he was! The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church. The greater the persecution, the greater the progress of the gospel. Centuries later, Bibles were confiscated or thrown into bonfires and Bible translators burned at the stake or imprisoned, but no bonds could hinder the circulation of the word of God.

Although God’s word cannot be bound, human hearts can be in bondage. The Apostle Peter once said to Simon a sorcerer, who was leading people to believe he was the great power of God, “Repent of your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven, for I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” [ Acts 8:9-24 ]

The remarkable fact is that Christians love to call themselves bond servants of Jesus Christ. A bond servant was a slave but the bonds of slavery were the bonds of love which set them free from fear and filled them with the peace of God. [ Colossians 3:14-17 ] Jesus is the best secret agent for a happy 2007.