Spiritual Enslavement: When Love for Jesus Is Weaponized Against You

I want you to be aware of something that can be used to manipulate and control you. It’s possible for your love for Jesus to be weaponized against you in order to extract time and energy from you.

For the sake of clarity, this kind of manipulation isn’t even always intentional - it can even come from a place of sincerity and good intention. Nonetheless, it can leave you feeling tired, guilty for not doing more, and selfish just for wanting to enjoy the life God has gifted to you.

Sometimes Others Will Title Your Enjoyment Of God’s Blessings “Idolatry”

I just released a teaching on idolatry. And in that teaching, I shared about how it’s unhealthy and damaging to prioritize things above God and how a false perception of God can leave you in crippling spiritual deception. But I also covered an important nuance, and that is this: sometimes, others will label your enjoyment of God’s blessings as idolatry in order to make you more useful to their agenda. Sometimes, well-meaning Christian leaders will accuse you of idolatry if you’re not totally involved in every aspect of their programs, systems, or schedules.

Should we avoid prioritizing anything above God? Of course. But what exactly does that mean? Are we speaking just in terms of time? Does sleep become an idol if you get 8 hours of sleep but only pray for 3? Does work become an idol because you worked a 12-hour shift but only attended 6 hours of church services for the week? Is there an emotional quota we have to meet? Does it mean you’re not giving your all to Jesus if you don’t respond as emotionally as they want you to to their preaching and singing?

God Is Not Against Your Rest or Enjoyment

Sadly, some Christians believe that misery is holiness and that any enjoyment or rest in this life is considered “idolatry.” So let’s simplify: God simply wants obedience. Whatever gets in the way of obedience is an idol, but you should not feel shame for enjoying the blessings of divine life:

“Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” - 1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT)

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” - John 10:10 (NLT)

We ought to live holy. We ought to obey God. We ought to prioritize the Lord above all else. We ought to give him the fullness of all we can offer - thought, deed, emotion, resource, time, effort, and zeal. We ought to serve each other, serve in the local church, serve in ministry visions, and serve the Kingdom of God. But this does not mean that rest and blessings and enjoyment are idolatrous unto themselves. This doesn’t mean that we must enslave ourselves to programs and agendas or else be labeled “lukewarm.” Laying our lives down for Jesus mustn’t be confused with laying our lives down for man’s agendas and goals.

Service, yes. Spiritual enslavement, no. Don’t allow the Biblical commands to avoid idolatry to be twisted into obligations to avoid the enjoyment of this life for the sake of another person’s ego.

To explore this truth further, watch my teaching "Danger: That's Not God You're Following, It's YOUR Idol," on YouTube by clicking here.

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