This is the time of year when we focus on our country’s freedom and liberty. While it is fitting and appropriate to celebrate our freedom, many people in our society turn the focus on freedom to a self-indulgent focus on “my rights.” Freedom becomes a focus on individual freedom, which unfortunately becomes an emphasis on a person’s freedom to do whatever he or she wants to do. A focus on our individual rights to do whatever we want easily leads to self-indulgence. Such self-indulgence shows that, instead of being free, self-indulgence becomes enslavement.
As Christians, how can we avoid the slavery of a self-indulgent lifestyle?
How can we overcome ungodly, self-serving, enslaving, and ultimately destructive behavior that mimics freedom?
Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deceptions even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. -2 Peter 2:13-14 (NLT)
Peter gave a harsh description of ungodly people who live for themselves and look for opportunities to sin. In their arrogance and greed, they sought to pull others into their sinful ways. We live in a culture that treats the things of God with a flippant and careless attitude. Our culture not only tolerates certain bad behaviors but also seems to celebrate them. Believers must recognize the seduction of self-indulgence and not be pulled into such a lifestyle.
Of what kind of enslaving habits do many Christians find themselves in danger?
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.