¹⁶ Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone^[a] as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16 CSB)

What do you indulge yourself in?

Really, think about it. We all indulge ourselves in something. Some guilty pleasure that we afford ourselves to take the edge off of a busy life. An early evening drink, a video game, a hobby or something else? These are not bad in and of themselves. We all need a way to blow off steam or to relax. We just have to be careful about becoming a slave to our indulgence.

I have a number of hobbies or pastimes. Things that I can really get lost in doing to the exclusion of just about everything else. These things can really suck up a lot of my time and, if I am honest, a lot of my treasure. I have found myself ending up being a slave to them a time or two and had that realization that I needed to back away.

I too have indulged myself in scripture and, at times, too much study trying to learn God’s plan. What did He want from me, what was I supposed to be doing? Even in this we can become a slave to trying to figure out what God just wants us to live out. I have learned that often his plan is one of just moving forward and doing and not of trying to figure it out.

God ultimately just wants our faith and our obedience. He does not expect us to live without distractions from a hectic and busy life. But we cannot become a slave to these things.