Whatever Controls You Becomes Your Master: On Slavery to Sin and True Freedom

The author reflects on Saint Paul's warning that not everything we choose freely leaves us free, a truth many people grasp only after years of struggling with sin. A habit can begin with lust, pornography, alcohol, gambling, greed, anger, jealousy, or the constant need to satisfy our own desires. At first we believe we are in control and can stop whenever we want, but gradually a choice becomes a habit, and the habit can become something we feel powerless to resist.

This is the slavery to sin that Saint Paul warns about, referenced with Romans 6:16. The author explains that in the Orthodox Church these disordered desires are called passions, and the more we feed them, the stronger their hold on our hearts becomes. Christ did not come merely to say that sin is wrong; He came to free us from its power.

The author names the means of this freedom: prayer, fasting, Confession, the Holy Eucharist, and a sincere effort to change our lives, through which we turn away from what enslaves us and return to God. The struggle is not easy. Some habits take years to overcome, and we sometimes fall back into the very sins we are trying to leave.

But falling does not mean surrender. True freedom is not doing everything our desires demand; it is no longer being ruled by them. The author closes with a question for the reader: am I controlling my desires, or are my desires controlling me? A prayer asks Christ to give us strength to break free from everything that separates us from Him.