Daily Devotions
Are You a Slave?
Title: Are You a Slave?
Reading for November 15: Acts 8-9
Weekly reading for November 11-17: 2 Peter & Jude
For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:19
I have an addictive personality. It's scary to me how easily I can become engrossed in some mindless activity. For example, I start playing some silly game as a diversion and before I even know it I've blown precious time out of my day.
I've caught myself in the middle of binges like this and realized that I have become a slave to whatever I was doing. What I was doing wasn't wrong, but it had become my master. I was no longer under control. I had become overcome.
These "masters" come in all different shapes and sizes. We can become enslaved to some form of entertainment, to food, to drink, to a drug, to an unhealthy relationship, to work, to our education, etc.
How can we know when something has mastered us? How can we tell when we've become a slave to something? It's when something:
- Takes control of us.
- Eats up our time.
- Saps all of our energy.
- Commands all of our attention.
- Degrades our ability to choose God.
Father, help us to be more aware of the idols we secretly cherish in our hearts. May we always allow you to be in complete control of our thoughts, our time, and our behavior.