Breaking Free from What Masters Us
“people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 2 Peter 2:19
In his letter Peter warns about those who promise freedom but are themselves slaves of depravity. This morning I was reading about the lack of respect for human life by a segment of the community. In the article it listed online chat rooms where people talk about killing other people. Death is glorified and as a consequence some people are inspired to become killers of innocent people. In these chat rooms young people are groomed to think they will be heroes and achieve infamy by killing other people. Some people believe the lie and commit heinous crimes. Instead of the freedom they were promised, they will live with the consequences of this enslavement to a culture of death for a long long time.
A few days ago a man called the pastor of a church. He and his wife wanted to explore being Jesus followers. He has a background of addiction. His wife has a background in the occult. Neither of them had ever been to a church for anything in their entire lives. Working behind the scenes, where nobody knew what was going on, the Holy Spirit gently led them to a point in their lives where they were willing to risk breaking free from what mastered them.
They first checked all the websites of the churches in their town. Then they reached out to the pastor of the church where the promise was fullness of life for everyone. This man told the pastor, "I have been empty all my life so fullness sounded pretty good to me". The wife initially resisted leaving the enslavement of the occult and becoming enslaved to a new belief system. Then the pastor helped her to meet Jesus.
A life transforming transaction took place. When they got past their concerns and surrendered to Jesus as their new master, they indeed found themselves enslaved to him, but they also discovered that enslavement to Jesus is actually the way to be set free.
Emptiness became fullness. Doubt became assurance. Lack of direction became a passion to lead their four children to know this Jesus as well. Mom and dad are scheduled to be baptized in a few days.
I think we would all agree that they have chosen to surrender to the best possible master. They are on the road to becoming slaves to love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
