September 1. Servants of Sin

"Whoever commits sin — is the servant of sin" John 8:34 So the people who boast so of their freedom — are really slaves after all. They look upon a Christian with a sot of pity, because he cannot do the wicked things they do. "Oh, I forgot! You cannot go to the theater; you cannot go to the tavern. You are a Christian. I would not be in such bondage; I want to be free." So these people talk while they enjoy their license — which they call liberty! They do not imagine that they are the slaves — and that the Christians whom they so pity are really the only free people there are in the world! Every person is a servant of some master — the only difference being in the master. There is no dishonor in having a master, if the master is worthy, and able to lead us up to glory. The Christian has Christ for his Master; while he who lives in sin has sin for his master. Christ is a blessed Master; serving Him lifts one up to eternal glory. What sort of a master is sin? We need but to look about us to see. What does sin do for its slaves? What life did it ever ennoble or lift up? It is said that one of the great prisons of this country was built by the prisoners themselves. They dressed the stones and built the walls which afterwards shut them in. The legend is familiar, too, of the man to whom the devil came ordering a chain of a certain length. Coming at the appointed time, he ordered the chain made longer, and then went away. When at last it was finished he came again, and with it bound the poor man who had fastened its links at his command. Just so, sinners are everywhere building their own prison-walls, and with their own hands fashioning the chains to bind them forever. We need to be on our guard perpetually against little sins of thought, of habit — mere gossamer threads at first, which will become steel cables at last if we allow them to be wrapped about our souls.