Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
EXODUS 32:15-19 | 15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound made by victors or the sound made by losers; it is the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’s anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Freedom is never a once and done reality, established in a moment and then naturally lasting forever. Freedom hinges on responsible choices. If I use my freedom badly I can compromise or end it. Misuse of freedom can lead to incarceration, or addiction. More subtly, it can lead to the prison of the self and the addiction to narcissism. The people of Israel’s rebellion against God was a turning towards self-indulgence, comfort, pleasure, sexual self-expression, and spontaneous desire. Many of us are unintentionally enslaved by our own disordered desires. We lose the ability to grow toward virtue and holiness because we are entangled in the immediacy of our own wants.
Do you know someone who has misused their freedom?
Pray for him or her today.
