Stockholm Syndrome
2 Peter 2:19 These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
It’s amazing how, after a while, we can become accustomed to discomfort or adversity – to the point where we don’t even notice it anymore, to the point where we even become so attached to it that we don’t want to give it up.
In 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson took four employees of a large Swedish bank in Stockholm hostage during a failed robbery. He and a friend held them captive for six days in one of the bank’s vaults. When they were released, none of the hostages would testify against their captors in court. Instead, they began raising money for their defence.
Hence the term “Stockholm Syndrome” came into being, to describe the condition where hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors during captivity.
It’s almost inconceivable, isn’t it? And yet I wonder whether this isn’t the perfect analogy to explain our attachment to the sin which holds us captive, and perhaps the people who lead us into that sin.
2 Peter 2:19 These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
It’s almost inconceivable that we should be attached to the sin that utterly ruins our lives and has the potential to rob us of our eternity in the very Presence of God. And yet here we are, each knowing that there are some sins that indeed seem to hold that power over us.
But here’s the good news. Jesus came to set you free – completely free – from the power of sin over your life. Don’t fall for the Stockholm Syndrome. Turn to Jesus because when He sets you free, you will be free indeed.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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