I've been reading Radical recently, which is great. It's been convicting and thought-provoking. The author, David Platt, points out in one chapter that we are slaves to sin. As a privileged white girl, I've never been enslaved, which is fortunate for me. I've never been a victim of any kind of human trafficking. I've grown up and spent my whole life in a well-lit community and I'm never in any real danger (and if it is, it's because I've done something dumb like tripped over my own feet). I get to make my own decisions about what kind and how many pairs of shoes I have, and I'm financially indebted to my parents, but that's normal for a nineteen year old girl. I'm free. I am a free individual.
But I have been a slave to Netflix. It's embarrassing to say but it's true, and I don't mean to make light of our slavery to sin at all; this is just the closest thing I know to slavery, and it's awful. This semester I watched Gossip Girl, which I loved. It was glamorous and so fun. However, it got the point where all I could think about was Gossip Girl. All I wanted to do was watch it. I didn't want to go to class or study or eat or hang out with people or go to sleep because I wanted to watch GG all.the.time. And I did watch it a lot of the time, and I realized that it was all I cared about, but I still couldn't stop until it was all over. I was miserable. I began to resent GG for making me care so much about it. I didn't enjoy it as much as I had when I started, because I just wanted to finish. I just wanted it to be over.
I needed some kind of deliverance to come to me and snap me out of my weird Gossip Girl funk. I needed someone to tell me that my life is more important than GG. Even biology is more important than GG, and that is significant because I really do not hold a very large appreciation for biology.
Being freed from slavery is quite different in literature than it is in real life. For example: in Harry Potter, all Dobby needed to be freed was a sock, and then Dobby was a free elf. It takes more than foot-warming material to make me free. And God is willing to give whatever it takes.
In John 8:31-38, Jesus tells some people that the truth will set them free, and then they sass him and say that they are not enslaved and don't need to be set free from anything. Ha, ha, silly people. Jesus tells them, "Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." If you apply that to Netflix, then it means that everyone who watches Netflix is a slave to Netflix...yup, sounds about right (just kidding...but only a little bit kidding). The Son, Jesus, sets us free. We cannot remain in the house of God, because we are very much not worthy or righteous at all, but the Son, Jesus, is the only one who can, and since He is in our hearts and we belong to Him, we can remain in the house of God forever with Him. We are free from sin and we get to live in the house of God forever and ever, and it is a much better place to live than anywhere else. It's better than a house on the lake and better than any cute little farmhouse on acres and acres of land with a pond. If you recall what God's house is like from childhood, you will recall that it is "a big house with lots of rooms, with big big tables, with lots and lots of food. There's a big big yard, where we can play football (touchdown!). It's a big big house - it's my Father's house." The reason it's so special is not because of the lots of rooms or the big big tables with lots and lots of food or the big yard where we can play football (touchdown!). The house of God is so so dearly special because it's where He lives and where we get to be near Him.
Romans 6:15-23 says that we are slaves to the thing we are obedient to. I was absolutely more obedient to Netflix than I was to anything else during that time I was watching Gossip Girl. Romans 6:21 says, "But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?" The only fruit I was getting from Gossip Girl was the fictional drama that I observed (and the really nice clothes the characters wear). I wouldn't say that is fruit at all; I would say that's maybe junk food instead of fruit. I was learning nothing helpful for me. And I am now ashamed of that. Then verses 22-23 says, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I'm picking a lot on Netflix, but really and truly I love it. This was just me learning a valuable life lesson in moderation. For the wages of Netflix is misery and bug-eyes, but the liberation from it is fresh air and joy and social interactions and productivity.
We are slaves to sin but we are set free from sin when Jesus comes to earth to replace Himself for us. And then we become slaves to Him, and all of our strength comes from Him. We can do nothing apart from Him. The freedom we find in Him is so much sweeter than the reckless freedom we thought we had when we were in sin. We are given the free gift of God: eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Love,
Lauralicious
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