1 Kings 5; Obadiah 1-21; Acts 3:1-10; 2 Peter 2:12-22; Psalm 90: Are you a slave to anything? If you are like me you would immediately say “NO!” As I read the scripture today though this verse jumped out at me.
2 Peter 2:19 For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”
It is taken from a portion of scripture that talks about how the people were in the church but being influenced by people who said they were believers but practicing disobedience. They lived in their old nature and went back to tradition rather than new life. They were wolves in sheep clothing. They infiltrated the church and were causing many to go astray. Peter was addressing their sinful lifestyles. He was saying you have become slave again to your old natures.
As I read that I thought about how anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness can set up camp in our lives. We can go back to the old nature in these areas. We can go back to our old lifestyle of cursing, putting things into our body we know are not good for us, listening to or watching things that are not healthy or just plain ungodly. We can have roots of jealousy that rear their ugly heads. Whatever overcomes our spirit filled lives to set up camp is what we become slave to. Generally it happens slowly. Just like that slow fade. Eventually we find ourselves captive to that old nature again and it becomes our master. We no longer read our bibles like we once did. We no longer hang out with our Christian friends and look for “reasons” why we can’t or don’t want to spend time together. When we are together we play the game of Christian but our hearts are far away. We only go to church when it is convenient and our prayer life is almost non existent until something bad happens and we need Him. Then we are drawn away from the old nature again pulling away from the sin that so easily entangles and back to the Father.
Peter knew the people he was writing to struggled and if we are honest we know a few as well. The antidote is to recognize those pulling us to the old nature before they infect us. Then spend time in prayer. Keep your distance from the temptations and flee temptation. Read your bible daily and stay faithful to the family of faith. In doing all of these things you stand a much stronger chance of not being taken slave to the sin that lingers close at hand. One last thing, have a trusted Christian mentor and friend who will pray for you when you are feeling weak. By His power you will overcome.