Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
We’ll take these in turn and take a brief look at each to probe a bit deeper as to what this bondage looks like, so we can see the nature of the fetters that must needs be shattered. 🙂
Dress
This sword can cut whichever direction you swing it. Wearing frumpy sweats to work or church with no regard for others is inappropriate. But so is dressing to draw inappropriate attention to yourself. If you’re thinking about your attire inappropriately, it can then control you. But what’s appropriate?
Well, the New Testament sense here tends to deal with motive. WHY are you dressing as you are. A helpful gauge is the comfort of others. Does what you’re wearing make others feel honored and comfortable or the opposite?
Thinking in extremes may be helpful, here. Wearing pajamas to a job interview is downright disrespectful. So is wearing a bikini to church. Granted, most of our daily decisions are somewhere in the middle, but you can get the idea. Would you wear shorts and a T-shirt to a luncheon with the President or would you wear slacks and a tie?
Enough on that. Don’t take it too far. Try to see the principles in view. This is a post about slavery, and I hope that makes for more personal examination. Let’s move on.
Friends
Even if you have the best, most loving, supportive, sacrificial friends on earth, you can still be enslaved to them if you are more concerned with them than you are with honoring God.
Are you worried about what other people will think of you? If yes, you may be a slave to friends. This is a surefire recipe for misery. Trying to please people is like trying to shoot a bee in flight with a bow and arrow: it’s a teeny moving target and you have the wrong equipment. Men can’t decide what they like, so why should that be your target? With God however, the standard is as constant as His character. He’s given us His Word to know how to honor Him.
Ironically, the best way to please men is to please God. Occasionally the vacillating standard of men intersects with the constant standard of God. For instance, if my kids live to please me, they’ll be disappointed and so will I. I’m sinful, and what I like is as subject to change as the weather. However, if they live to please God, I’ll be thrilled and delighted as a parent with the outcome. Make sense?
Work
The key here is balance. As best you are able, wherever you are, be all there. When your’e at work, work hard. When you’re having family time, be all there. We are serving God wherever we are…always. And being a slave to Christ will make me a better employee…always. If you work as unto the Lord (Eph. 6:5-8), your employer will likely be thrilled with the outcome (are we seeing a pattern…?).
Habits
This has to do with the flesh, laziness and personal discipline.
Too many folks are convinced they can’t do things that other people do all the time! Countless things are possible, even though they may be hard: diet plans, good sleep habits, exercise routines, journaling, keeping a clean house, getting places on time, playing the harp, whatever. We’re all different, but we’re all human.
Granted, there may be physical limitations that some of us face, but doing these things successfully relates generally to our habits. Have we formed good, healthy and constructive habits or the opposite? What about tomorrow’s habits? What will they look like? A year from now?
In all these things, it is critical to remember a few things:
If we live to please men we aim at a moving target. Men are always changing, and so are their opinions. If one person is impressed by my shoes, another person will hate them. Trying to please men in such areas is utter folly.
If we aim to please God, we aim at a fixed target. He is never changing; He is always the same. His standard and loves are constant.
None of us are the victims we’d like to think we are. This bondage is our responsibility. If you’re a slave to your friends or bad habits, you have no one to blame but yourself. Pray for grace, repent and shake off the fetters!
So, the Holy Club members were wise to confront these issues daily. Like the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:1), may we consciously, practically and joyfully identify ourselves slaves of Jesus.
Have you read…?
Twenty-Two Questions Worth Asking Question #1: Hypocrisy? Promises of God and an Easter Appeal
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