Spiral

With a free will, how can we be a slave to our choices?

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. - John 8:31-36

Jesus surprises his disciples by telling them that they aren't free, even though they make their own choices.

When we choose to sin, he tells us, we make sin our master and we become ruled by it.

I have been thinking about this in different terms lately.  I am studying how writers of thrillers create their characters and make them so appealing to us.

One way, according to Harlan Coben, is to have them be just like us to start with, and then have them make one bad decision that leads to others which are more serious.

He uses the example of a woman who has been a faithful volunteer at the church for years.  

One day, after finishing up the accounting, she takes a few dollars for the cab because it is raining, and she justifies the act by saying that she has worked so hard, the church could afford to pay.

This one act leads to a few other rationalizations and then one day, one of the church members catches her and threatens to report her for embezzling.  Not wanting to get caught, she argues with the woman and the woman falls, hitting her head on the desk.

Now, the woman has a bigger problem.  She has killed someone over a few dollars.

If we can see ourselves in the situation, we are drawn into the story, and that is what Jesus is trying to do.

He wants us to see that one sinful act can lead to many and they can escalate.

But there is hope in Him.  He will lead us back to the Father whose grace will shower upon us and make us whole again.  It will free us from our sins.

We can avoid the spiral of sin by staying focused on God, but we can also be reassured that if we do sin, we can come to Him and be redeemed.

Now, the challenge is always confessing to those we hurt.

That is where we need to do the work, because, like the woman, we don't want to be found out.

More to come...