Freedom in Slavery

Have you ever really struggled with understanding why you or someone you love continues to give into temptation and commit grievous sin only to confess, repent, and fall back into the same thing again and again? Well, the Bible has some comforting and urging for you on this matter:

“...I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Romans 7:15-20)

You would think that this was in reference to some “carnal Christian”, enslaved to sin speaking of his continual struggle and inability to escape temptation but this is the Apostle Paul himself! I, and many Christians like me, have often prayed something like “Oh God if I could only be free of this desire! Why oh why can’t I be free from it??” This is a kind of “slavery” (or rather “servitude”) that can be re-entered into when we make a habit of sinning. The Scriptures make this clear, “Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Suddenly, we can find ourselves unable to escape and the truth of Romans 6:22 becomes all too distant: “But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!”

I believe that it is in both recognizing that we have locked ourselves away by a new choice of servitude to sin and are enslaved and YET set free from sin that we can truly experience freedom in ANY “ensnaring” area. On one hand, it is of no use to pray simply, “God take this away from me!” because this removes our responsibility to “cut off the hand that offends” (Matt. 5:30) and to “fear God and depart from evil” (Pro. 3:7). On the other hand, if we have “re-enslaved” ourselves through our sinful choices, we must ask for God’s rescue. It is both/and.

In summary, if you or someone you care about is experiencing addictive sinful behavior, here are some steps that I believe will help deliver you and put you on your way to living a fruitful (Luke 8:15) Christian life:

1. Remove the tempting thing and be willing to make radical “amputations” in your life. Consider the severity of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:29-30 and that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 6:7-8)
2. Pray for strength to overcome temptation and God’s deliverance from the pattern of giving in to sin and temptation. (Matt. 6:13)
3. Believe that you have been set free (Rom. 6:20-22) from sin and walk in it!

Remember brothers and sisters, in order to experience freedom from sin, we need to BOTH draw on God’s strength and delivering power AND take personal responsibility for our actions!

Be blessed and be Bereans!

For deeper study, on the theological ramifications of the "victim mentality" and not taking personal responsibility for sin, click here