Two thoughts crossed my mind as I laughed out loud:
- The cartoon illustrates the frivolity of human "self-help" endeavors, where mere behavior modification is the goal, yet the heart remains in bondage to sin, with the irony being that the person thinks they've encountered "freedom," and
- The cartoon illustrates the grandeur of being freed from constraining enslavement to sin, and released to the life-giving, border-expanding nature of enslavement to Christ.
Dr. Robert Jones and Brad Hambrick, together in their chapter from Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling, wrote that, "No counseling diagnosis runs deeper than a detailed grasp of sin."
Therein lies the fatal flaw for all counseling and self-help approaches that do not begin and end with a biblical worldview. Because they don't grasp the depth of human depravity, they say to the counselee, "Heal thyself!"
The follower of Christ, on the other hand, knows with increasing certainty that without the Holy Spirit's intervention, that they would have continued "dead in their trespasses and sin," without hope for true freedom from their bondage to worldly passions and desires.
Any sense of freedom from sin, or unwanted emotions and behaviors that is seemingly experienced absent the Gospel's miracle work of heart-change is a mirage.
The sooner we learn that we're either slaves to sin and unrighteousness, or slaves to Christ, and that there is no alternative, the better.
I don't know if the author of our little cartoon intended to remind us of this critically important lesson, but I appreciate their effort nonetheless.
How have you experienced these principles in your own life?
How does the idea of enslavement to Christ encourage you in your fight against sin?
Scripture references: Ephesians 2:1; Romans 7:4.
