I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. (Romans 7:21-23 NLT)
When we are young, our parents warn us of ‟bad influences.” ‟I don’t like you hanging around that boy. He’s a bad influence.”
What they mean, of course, is that certain people can influence us to do things that we know are wrong by making them look attractive or fun in some way.
However, the worst influences aren’t people. The power of sin itself leads us down the road of unhealthy patterns, hindering our spiritual development, and making us slaves to it.
Before we even know we have a problem, we find ourselves stuck. Stuck in addictions, unhealthy spending habits, time-wasting activities, unclean speech, and cowardice, to name a few. We wonder how we got there, and if we´ll ever find a way out.
How We Got There
If we are going to break free from the influences that make us slaves to sin, then we need to call out the excuses that put the chains on us in the first place.
- Tradition. My wife has a habit that irritates the poo out of me. However, I would be the worse off if she didn’t do this. She asks ‟why” questions. ‟Why do you do it that way?” Usually, the most intelligent thing I can think to answer is that I´ve always done it that way. It’s a tradition! A tradition is merely a habit that has been passed down.
The problem with tradition is that it becomes part of your belief pattern. As such, your nature is to cling to it. Your way is the right way. It must be, or how would it have become a tradition? This thought pattern of worshipping established practices at the expense of seeing new perspectives will stifle personal and spiritual growth.
- Majority Rule. This one is especially tough for Americans or folks from other countries with a democratic mindset. We are accustomed to a system where people vote on things, and the majority wins the day. It’s one thing to have a rule of order that functions in this manner; however, it is quite another to go along with the majority just because they´re the majority. Blindly following the crowd can lead us down paths that do not align with our values and purpose. Your mom probably said this at some point in the ‟bad influence” lecture in response to your protests that all the cool kids were doing what she won´t let you do:
If all the cool kids jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?
Of course you wouldn’t. But if you´re already a slave to sin, you´ll do what the sinners do. Which leads me to number three.
- Fear of Standing Out. Probably the biggest reason for going along with the crowd is the fear of being singled out as ‟the weird one.” Some people, such as I, relish being the iconoclast who observes the masses and does the opposite. However, some people are deeply wounded by social exclusion. They fear the spotlight more than they fear the consequences of doing whatever the crowd is. This has become exponentially more difficult in today’s ‟cancel culture.”
- Fear of Offending. Speaking of cancel culture, this is how it all started. Trying to proactively be a people-pleaser can wear anybody out. However, today, life is even more exhausting because you have to play defense. The chronically offended are on offense themselves, canceling people right and left for not bowing down to their hive mind. Building bridges with others requires genuine communication, not constant compromise. You can´t get real when you are a slave to someone else’s fantasy world.
- Lack of Motivation. I probably should have put this one first. It’s definitely the one I struggle with the most. It doesn’t matter how organized you are or how well thought-out your plan is. Sometimes you just…don’t…feel like it. This is the uber-excuse that gives birth to a host of rationalizations. ‟I worked hard all day.” ‟I deserve a break.” ‟The stupid dog woke me up three times last night.” ‟I can do it tomorrow.” Or sometimes, we´re honest with ourselves and just straight admit that we don’t want to do it right now, so there. But how much would get done in this world if we only did the things we feel like doing when we felt like doing them? That’s too scary to even think about.
- Physical and/or Mental Conditions. I´m going to make some people mad with this one (see #4), but I have included it because I have fallen prey to it myself. First let me acknowledge that we all have physical limitations, some of us more profoundly than others. Next, let me also acknowledge that mental illness IS physical illness, because your brain is an organ just like your heart, liver, etc. Because of the limitations that our diseases place on us, there are going to be things we can´t do. However, anything that is not on that list is something we CAN do. Where limitations cross the line to slavery is when we allow our conditions to become our identity. I can’t do this job because it requires standing, and I´m in a wheelchair. That’s fine. I can´t do anything because I´m in a wheelchair. Not so much. When you cross that line, you have given your limitations power over you that they should not have. The same holds true for mental and emotional impairments. I can’t do that dispatcher job, because I have panic attacks. That’s not an excuse; that’s wisdom. If you have acute stress reactions, you shouldn’t attempt a job that is all stress all the time. However, I can’t work because I’m afraid I MIGHT have a panic attack, which gives me anxiety, which makes me depressed, which makes me unable to get up and go to work, is evidence you have become a slave to your illness.
(OK, so what’s the way out? For that, you’ll have to come back tomorrow for the conclusion. If you click on the Free Newsletter link, you’ll be the first to know when it goes live.)
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