The Promise of Freedom

Day 332: 2 Peter 2:1-22

“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.” - ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭2:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The theme of this chapter is WARNING! ⚠️

We are not lacking for historical examples of people trying to do things their own way by “instinct.” (see verse 12) Peter reminds us of a few:

• The flood (Genesis 6)

• Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)

• Balaam (Numbers 22)

Each of these instances had at least one person that stood out in contrast and did things God’s way: Noah, Lot, and Moses. Three questions (and answers) naturally flow from our reading today:

(1) What was it that used to offer you freedom but instead slapped heavy chains on your wrists? Whatever that was, the Devil will not quit with his temptations for you to turn back to it.

(2) How should we think about these attractive lifestyles that go against following Jesus? Vomit and mud. Both stink. Both are useless. Why would we ever want to be enslaved to them?

(3) Why would we want to release control to something or someone who seeks our harm? It is always best to choose Jesus as our Lord. He is eternally motivated by His great love for us.

"No man can serve two masters; but all men must serve one. These men were not the last to set liberty against law. Yet their vaunted liberty turned into licence, and generated a new bondage. On the other hand glad bondage to the law of Christ, which was so disparaged by the false teachers, leads in fact to an emancipation more complete than the errorists could ever have imagined.” - Michael Greene, 2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary (Page 140)

Let’s dive headfirst into this freedom today.