Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." John 8:34
I am a slave. There are many times in my life where I don't want to be a slave, and there are many times where I actually don't mind being a slave all that much.
How am I a slave? In the sense that Jesus spoke about in the verse I quoted above. Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. I sin. I am a slave. And the reality that I live in shows that this is indeed a very complicated situation.
There are those things that I really fight and battle against. I see the sin in my life, and I don't want it to be there anymore. I struggle with it. I ask others to help in the struggle. I come before God, admitting that I'm a slave to these things, and praying for His forgiveness and His Spirit to work toward their conquest in my life. I don't want to be a slave to these, and so I engage in a battle against them.
The problem is, there are also those things that I am a slave to, but they don't really bother me all that much. I'm going to post about what some of these look like over the next few days, maybe not in particularly specific ways, but to show how invasive and pervasive some of this slavery really is. I'll be looking at how I don't really mind being a slave to some of these things because being a slave is actually fairly comforting. However, it becomes a whole lot less comfortable when I encounter what God says about them, and have to view them from the lens of my redemption and my faith.
But in many respects, this all starts as I realize the truth of what Jesus spoke so many centuries ago, but still applies to my life, and the lives of all people who ever live. I am a slave. I don't want to be one, but I am.
I am a slave. There are many times in my life where I don't want to be a slave, and there are many times where I actually don't mind being a slave all that much.
How am I a slave? In the sense that Jesus spoke about in the verse I quoted above. Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. I sin. I am a slave. And the reality that I live in shows that this is indeed a very complicated situation.
There are those things that I really fight and battle against. I see the sin in my life, and I don't want it to be there anymore. I struggle with it. I ask others to help in the struggle. I come before God, admitting that I'm a slave to these things, and praying for His forgiveness and His Spirit to work toward their conquest in my life. I don't want to be a slave to these, and so I engage in a battle against them.
The problem is, there are also those things that I am a slave to, but they don't really bother me all that much. I'm going to post about what some of these look like over the next few days, maybe not in particularly specific ways, but to show how invasive and pervasive some of this slavery really is. I'll be looking at how I don't really mind being a slave to some of these things because being a slave is actually fairly comforting. However, it becomes a whole lot less comfortable when I encounter what God says about them, and have to view them from the lens of my redemption and my faith.
But in many respects, this all starts as I realize the truth of what Jesus spoke so many centuries ago, but still applies to my life, and the lives of all people who ever live. I am a slave. I don't want to be one, but I am.
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