God Wants You FreeSample

Day Three – What Is Spiritual Slavery?

It’s a short walk from sin to habitual sin to addiction, which is frequent. People often descend the slippery slope from one level to another without a conscious awareness, which is why honest friends and trained professionals can help us see our blind spots.

In the kingdom of God, people worship Him by practicing self-control. In the earthly world, people worship pleasure as god and lose self-control, so their sinful flesh controls them.

Whereas the culture uses the word addiction, the Bible uses the word slavery. If you cannot stop a sinful pattern, you are a slave.

When Christians are addicted, they really only have four options

1. Minimization: Try and manage sin to keep it from getting worse. These efforts are doomed to failure. Sin is like cancer; either you kill it or it kills you.
2. Compartmentalization: Try and hide it, live a secret double life, anxiously hoping you don’t get caught, exposed, and found out.
3. Celebration: Accept it as your new identity and be proud of it even though you should be ashamed of it. This explains why the world has parades for things when it should have funerals.
4. Liberation: Walk in the freedom God intends by killing what is killing you: Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.