[F]or people are slaves to whatever masters them.
The author of 2 Peter is extolling the virtues of patience. At the same time, he’s condemning the false prophets, who at one point were aware of the Good News, but fell away due to a love of the world.
He explains that people speak “bombastic nonsense”, and they promise freedom but are slaves of corruption. Being a slave is something I’ve always thought of as something done to another person. Someone is involuntarily enslaved. This author is arguing that people enslave themselves. They become slaves to whatever masters them. Yes! And the problem with this self-enslavement is that we frequently don’t even see it happening. One thing leads to another, and eventually we’re beholden to a master we would otherwise never choose.
I’m a little nervous about this very phenomenon in my home. This morning, at 5:30, my loved one came down to chat. We got up out of bed, while they sat at in the kitchen. Never mind that we were previously sleeping. Honestly, that sense of immediate gratification is a symptom of their significant brain disorder, but it’s tiresome to be sure.
We groggily made our way to the kitchen. It turns out, they wanted to know if we had any work for them today, so they could get paid. This is in addition to a monthly allowance as well as other less-than-ideal-but-legal ways to get cash, all of which is spent. Their next allowance payment will arrive in the beginning of June. Um, not sure if we have any work. Are you sure? How about mowing? We did that already. How about . . . .? Not sure.
When that wasn’t immediately fruitful, they asked if we’d pay them for work yet to be done. We replied, we don’t have cash. Can we go to the ATM now so you can get cash and pay me? Um, no. We don’t prepay for work you haven’t done.
With this, they stormed out, slammed the door and exclaimed that they won’t be taking their morning medications either. Slam!
Unfortunately, my loved one is a slave to some master, self-enslaved. On one hand, this signifies fleeting good news. They have been so symptomatic and sick that they were unable to have reasoned conversations with us for the past three years. So to have them argue so clearly (and yet so wrong-headedly) is a sign that their symptoms are not as pronounced.
But that is fleeting, as they’ve connected taking their meds with somehow punishing us or being something that will hurt us. While that is true, it will hurt them more.
Being involuntarily enslaved by schizophrenia is horrid. Being voluntarily enslaved by anything is insidious, and equally horrid. This morning, I’m thinking about how to support my enslaved love one from all their masters.
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