Submission to an Old Slave Master
Posted in The Historical Faith and tagged with Bible, God, Jesus Christ, Reading, Sin on February 20, 2009Earlier this week I finished reading Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide, which is the third book in the Ender’s series. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t lose me now. I’m not really going to talk about the book, just about one character as I saw myself in her.
Qing-jao, along with many others on her planet, have severe OCD-like symptoms that can’t be treated by medicine. Once the secret is found out and a cure is found, they are finally released of their compulsions. Sounds like wonderful freedom, right?
Qing-jao decides that it is a punishment from the gods and determines to continue her compulsion, tracing the grain in wood, every waking hour for the rest of her life, though it was no longer a compulsion and she didn’t have to do it. She was free from this activity, yet she chose to go back to it and make herself a slave to it. She finally had the opportunity to have a normal life, but she chose instead to enslave herself once more to this habit.
I’m like that. God freed me from my sin, and I go back to my sin as if I was still a slave to it.
Qing-jao’s behavior was an affront to those who set her free and a slap in the face to those who risked their lives to free her. How much more is my sin, my intentional submission to my old slave master who has no more power over me, an affront to the One who died to set me free?
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1, NASU
February 20th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Very thoughtful. I found it cool that I knew where you were going with it. don’t be too hard on yourself, though. It is something we all face. When I tend to want to fall into slavery of an old sin, I try to think first, ‘why exactly do I want to do that? What’s in my heart that is giving me this impulse?’. Then I pray about it. Keep striving toward the finish line : )
February 20th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Great thoughts and I’m glad you shared. (And I’m curious about the book too as I’ve only read Enchantment by Card before.)
So last night I just completed my (very short and non-comprehensive) reading on the Civil War and I thought THAT was where you were going with this post! =D
Your insights are valueable. Thanks for sharing!
February 20th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I catch myself doing that time and time again. Sometimes I listen to the Holy Spirit telling me to watch out and stay away from what I’m about to do, sometimes I don’t. I’m working on it.
Romans 7:21-25 NLT
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
What a great analogy. I love the book of Galations and have been camped out there for quite some time.
On a lighter note, if I’m going to go back into sin, I hope it’s more exciting than tracing the grain in wood!
Have a wonderful weekend, Ronnica.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
awesome post
February 21st, 2009 at 12:05 am
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February 21st, 2009 at 8:27 am
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February 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
So true. I call it self-sabotage. And I find myself doing it constantly.
February 21st, 2009 at 11:26 am
Wow. Great insight Ronnica. Don’t you love the way God sneaks us messages?
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:34 am
Words to think about. Thanks for sharing!