November 24: 2 Peter 2 17-21

Key Verse: 2 Peter 2 19
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

Devotion:
There are going to be people who try to convince others they are telling them the truth when they are actually spreading lies and deceptions. This part of the letter to Peter reminds us of the weakness of the human body and mind. No matter how hard we think we are or how strong we say we are, when we face the evil one and his ways, we tend to crumble and fall into submission.

But if we are willing to invite Jesus Christ as our Saviour and protector, then we will have the strength (given to us by God) to overcome the evil ways. One of our problems is that when we have seen the good and righteous ways, we often fall into a sense of self belief rather than remembering that it is because of Christ that we have this strength! When we tend to rely on our strength rather than God’s strength, we fall back into the evil ways we lived before because it seems much easier to do so. By falling back into these ways we subject ourselves to many more horrors than we faced before we had Jesus in our lives.

By knowing the love and peace we had when Christ was in our lives, and going back to our old ways, we know the sin and deprivation we are sinking into and wallow in our own self-pity. It is little wonder people talk of such bad times when they have previously experienced the hope Christ can give us; we become a prisoner to those old ways and to the evil one – no longer being free!

But Christ does not give up and continues to try and encourage us back to His ways and to His side where we can once again experience the hope and freedom He can give us. Christ has not given up on you and will never give up on you – but you do have the choice as to whether you are going to give up on Christ! Choose His ways and His life to be at peace with Him and with yourself!

Points to Ponder:
Have you slipped back into your old ways?

Are you willing to ask Christ to bring you out of the trap of selfishness?