Self-centered sin is the obsession with self. Sin is the primary reason for our dissatisfaction. It’s center stage. It governs how we think, how we feel, and how we behave. Sin is chronic. It is persistent, unrelenting, and constant to our experience. Sin is progressive. It gets worse. As our thinking becomes more distorted by sin, we feel more and more dissatisfaction and discomfort. We continue to sin and are impaired in our ability to demonstrate self-control. Whatever the issue of sin is, we develop tolerance to its effects and strive all the more to resolve our discomfort. We develop a preoccupation with our dissatisfaction and lose our focus. We continue in our sin, even though we are adversely affected by it. The content in this paragraph highlighted in italics are the key considerations recognized by the medical community describing the illness of addiction.
We are obsessed with ourselves, and are thereby enslaved by sin. We are sin addicts. Jesus said that anyone that sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34). And Peter, a disciple of Jesus, said, They themselves are slaves of destructive habits. For a man is a slave of anything that has conquered him. 2 Peter 2:19 (NKJV)
For every slave there is a master. To be a slave of sin is to be mastered, or controlled by sin. We are in fact addicted to sin. We’re all sin addicts. Sinful thoughts are addictive and destructive, yet we continue the pattern of sinful thinking. Sinful feelings are addictive and destructive, yet we allow ourselves to be controlled by sinful feelings. Sinful behavior is the result of sinful thoughts and feelings, yet we allow our thoughts and feelings to control our behavior. My obsession with me owns me and is at the wheel of what I think, how I feel, and how I behave.
This lesson examines the Scriptural dichotomy of slavery and freedom between what Paul wrote in Romans 6 and Philippians 4, and what he wrote in Romans 7 about the battle between flesh and Spirit. He even wrote that this struggle left him feeling miserable and vulnerable (2 Corinthians 12).