We are all slaves to this life in one way or another.
We voluntarily submit ourselves to a myriad of masters: careers, aspirations, relationships, etc. For we intuitively understand that absent commitment, greatness in any aspect of our lives is fleeting. In these commitments we surrender a measure of our free will. While not necessarily negative, it is nonetheless limiting: by pursuing one career path, I am limited in my investment in others. Therefore one should hope to undertake these servitudes fully aware and cognizant of both the benefits and the risks.
Unfortunately we sometimes find ourselves indentured to a lifestyle or master not of our choosing. It starts with minor concessions. Actions just left or right of center. But in time, our comfort with operating outside the understood boundaries increases and our actions become more audacious. We believe the lie we tell ourselves that it’s just one more time. We wake up one day and find we are common-law married to a way of life we would have never volunteered for. Worse still, we find ourselves unable to break free of this burdensome master that only further subjugates us. We are simply in too deep.
To overcome these burdens that surpass our strength, we need a strength outside of ourselves. A power that can loose our constraining affiliations, restore our freedom of choice, and allow us to live in harmony as the people we were designed to be.
“Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.”
When it comes to repeated sin, the process can be hopeless. We recognize we have a problem and thus endeavor to apply will power to overcome it. However, our will power comes up short which spirals us even further downward. The problem is we are repeatedly attempting a fundamentally flawed process. A key ingredient is missing.
As John highlights above, the person who wins out is the one who believes, not the one who has the greatest resolve. Help, power, and freedom are available to us, but we cannot will them alone.
So I ask you to lift up that area of your life you would rather keep hidden. Admit your powerlessness over it and ask for assistance from the only one who can truly provide it. Allow yourself to experience redemption and enjoy the freedom available you. For we all fall short of the mark, but we cannot allow those failures to define who we are. Our lives and impact are too important and too short to be stymied.