Willing Slavery

Why do we willingly enslave ourselves?

I’ve been noticing often that the more I take on, the more trapped I feel. The closer to people you get, the more in bondage you are to their desires and whims. Not that there’s anything wrong with that necessarily. It’s just taxing. I don’t *hate* when people ask me to do things…but after doing things for them for so long, they begin to expect those things. THAT is what I hate. The feeling of being at another person’s beck and call.

However, I think it’s the same with everything we invest our time in. The more time I spend on my computer, the more often I feel the drive to check Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. The longer I play soccer, volleyball, or go mountain biking, surfing, or snowboarding, the more addicted I feel. The more Chipotle I eat, the less control I have over where I decide to go to lunch (Thanks Steph!). Too much of any good thing can become a bad thing. I suppose it’s just human nature to become addicted to things.

Today someone presented me with an interesting concept. He offered me $50 to write a 3-page paper for school. I said no because it was cheating and I didn’t feel comfortable doing that for him. He said “How about for $100?” I refused. He literally kept going until he hit $2,750.00. I just kept laughing and saying that he couldn’t buy my morals. Then he said something which seemed like a revolutionary idea to me, but something we all intuitively know: “Everyone has a price.” He didn’t even know how right he really was. What he didn’t know, is that I’ve already been bought.

1 Corinthians 7:23 says “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” (And I believe 1 Corinthians 6:20 also touches on it briefly…stating that BECAUSE we were bought at a price, we should glorify God with our body and spirit. Amen!) SO true! Jesus has set me free, yet I constantly, and willingly, subject myself to the frivolous and temporary passions of this world. At NO COST! Sure, I can’t be bought monetarily, but I shouldn’t have to be. I’ve already been bought by the blood of Christ. If I could just remember this all the time, I think I’d spend my time, thoughts, resources, and space much more wisely. Why subject yourself to willing slavery if you don’t have to?

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Okay, I just read "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis, and my mind was completely blown. Not only does Lewis masterfully engage the reader with his insightful perspective, but he also does it in a common sensical way that allows the reader to relate with what he's talking about.

I've always thought of him as a sort of modern day Paul the Apostle. He's definitely a pillar of the modern day Christian's life. God has used this man tremendously. I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet such a man while he was still alive.

He begins the small book by talking about the four different types of love: Storge, Phileo, Eros, and Agape. He explains how all the loves are unique and not necessarily love itself, but an outward exemplification of love.

He shares about Storge; familial love, or affection. He talks about how this love is bred between family members, a mother and a child, etc.

Next he moves onto Phileo; the love between friends. Like David and Jonathan in the Bible. It talks about close friends, not just acquaintances, who upon being reunited after several years, still share the same deep bond of binding friendship. He makes the distinction between sharing something in common with people whom one normally affiliate with in one's natural environment, and a friend who's death you would mourn for the rest of your life. I also found it interesting, that some people can go their entire life without truly experiencing this type of love. A person doe not need it to survive. Fascinating. Lewis describes this love in an interesting way. It was a truly deep, and spot on way of explaining what it is to be a real friend.

Then Eros; the romantic love between a man and a woman. In this chapter, Lewis states that this love differs exponentially from it's counterfeit opposite "Venus", or sexuality. Eros is the desire for the person them-self, not the pleasure that person could potentially give. It's the knowledge and acceptance that this one person is the one that you want, not for what they can give you, or you them, but for who they are, and how they are unlike anyone else in the entire world. It was a beautiful literary depiction.

And lastly, Agape; the love of God. Lewis leaves the reader in awe through his examination of the depth of the love of God and how it is unlike any other on the planet. People will spend years upon years searching for such a love, but deny to themselves and others their absolutely desperate dependancy on it, and their search for it. It's the only love that everyone in the world NEEDS. I just loved hearing the explanation of this love and God's heart for the world. The Lord seriously spoke through Lewis in the writing of this book, and I for one, thoroughly enjoyed walking alongside him in the journey through this small epistle on the different types of love.

There's a VERY brief overview...but just suffice it to say, I REALLY loved the book, and will be reading it often. It's always a good reminder of who we are in Christ and how love is SUPPOSED to be, how we're supposed to love. Incredible, just simply incredible.

I liked hipsters before it

was cool to be hipster,

which makes me

hipster. Now that

everyone wants to be a hipster, I

don’t like hipsters very much…but

this still makes me very much

hipster, doesn’t it now? Dilemma…