Duped

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2 (ASV)

Jen’s Pizza Parlor had the fastest delivery men in town, they had to be in order to keep the business afloat. It didn’t matter how delicious the pizza was at Jen’s, nobody came into that neighborhood to pick it up. Even the people from the wrong side of the tracks were afraid to go grab a slice! With high delivery costs and no one wanting to dine in, Jen was on the brink of bankruptcy. Her solution was to go to Vinny, a guy in her neighborhood who offered ‘protection’. For a price, Vinny and his thugs would make sure that nothing happened to the pizza parlor. Of course, everyone knew that it was all a farce. If you paid the fee, your business was safe, but if you didn’t…Vinny and his thugs would cause all sorts of damage. It was a pretty lousy situation.

Then one day a new mayor took over the city. He recognized the problems the people faced and gave them solutions. Police patrols expanded, criminals were arrested and just like that, Jen’s Pizza Parlor was in a safe neighborhood. People felt free to come and eat and the business flourished under the new mayor’s law. At the beginning of the next month, Vinny stopped by and asked for his payment. “Sure,” he said, “the new mayor is in charge and things seem fine. But are you sure you can trust him? Are you sure that he can handle everything? Are you positive that I’m not more powerful than he is? What would it hurt to keep paying me? You know, for extra safety?” Jen was confused, she now experienced true protection under the mayor and wasn’t required to pay thugs any longer, but her lack of trust was enticing her to keep paying for the false protection that Vinny offered.*

As Christians, we aren’t slaves to sin any longer. We’re helped by the Holy Spirit, we’re taught by God’s word and we’re motivated by our commitment to honor God in our lives. But because we’re humans and God gave us the option to make our own choices, we still sin. We still get into situations and choose to do the wrong thing. Even though we have a new mayor, we still find ourselves paying for fake protection. Even though we are servants of God, we still find ourselves answering to the flesh.  For me, a lot of my sin choices stem from not trusting God. He has shown His faithfulness, His power and protection and yet I still find myself going back to the false security I get from sinful choices. Those choices don’t help me, they never solve my problem or protect me from anything. If anything, they hurt me. I need to start trusting God consistently. It’s time I recognized that pattern in my life and stopped it, breaking the cycle of mistrust and sin that causes so many of my problems.

*adapted from the landlord analogy, pg 96, Changed into His Image – Jim Berg