Daily Devotions
Why Your Non-Christian Friends Feel Sorry for You
Title: Why Your Non-Christian Friends Feel Sorry for You
Reading for November 27: Romans 8-10
Weekly reading for November 25-December 1: John 6-10
"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."
John 8: 34
Did you know a lot of your non-Christian friends feel sorry for you?
That's right. They feel sorry for you. You don't have any fun. You don't even know how to have fun. You follow a bunch of silly rules. You've surrendered your freedom. You have no life.
What they don't realize is that the "freedom" we have surrendered is not all it's cracked up to be. To be completely "free" (as they would define it) is to be the worst kind of slave. You are a slave to your own desires.
In Proverbs, this way of living is called foolishness. The fool is not anchored in a fear of the Lord, but lives by what he feels in his heart (Proverbs 1:7; 3:5-6). The fool hates to be told how to live (Proverbs 9:8). Because of this, he suffers (Proverbs 1:20-33).
Furthermore, he has no clue as to why he suffers. He cannot see that his suffering is self-inflicted. "The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble." (Proverbs 4:19)
But there is a way out. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day." (4:18)
Father, thank you for not leaving us to ourselves! Thank you for the truth which sets us free!