Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

Romans 6:17-19 says, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Freedom and slavery. We have both one way or another. If we submit ourselves to sin, we are free from God, His law, and His righteousness. However, we are slaves to sin. We may think we will only go so far, but it won’t happen that way. Sin will take over. It will take control. We cannot control sin. It will control us. However, if we would through Jesus Christ be free from sin’s control, we must submit ourselves as slaves to obey God’s righteousness.

Sadly, it seems that some folks today have the idea that being free in Christ means being free to do what we want. Not so. Being free in Christ means being set free from the power of sin, but we can only be set free from the power of sin when we are willing to completely surrender our lives to God. He gets to call the shots. We do not. Here is the great benefit. Just as committing sin leads to more sin, obeying God from the heart will lead to more obedience and through that to sanctification.

Please, do not miss the subtle paradigm shift we need to have here. For most of my life, I’ve had the idea that I needed to get my life under control. That is not what Paul says. Paul says I need to quit trying to control my life and instead hand the control over to God. What that means to me is instead of me trying to have all the strength to do what I think is right. I need to just do what God says. When I submit to God, He will fill me with strength to grow even more in what He says. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

Many of us want complete freedom. Paul points out that it just doesn’t exist. We will be enslaved to something. The question is will we be enslaved to sin? Or will we be enslaved to God? The former may seem like a greater freedom because I seem to get to do whatever I want. But it leads to death. In time you will recognize that you have actually lost control and sin is taking you where you didn’t want to go. The latter may seem like real slavery because someone else is clearly calling the shots and even reining us in from where we initially wanted to do. However, in the long run, this path leads to life and takes us where we all ultimately want to go.

***Question: Why do you want to choose slavery to God over freedom to sin?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

II Corinthians 6:2 drives it home: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Christianity is not merely something to think about. It is not something to tinker with for a while to see if it fits you. Christianity is about freedom in Christ. It is about freedom from guilt and shame by His love and forgiveness. It is about freedom from the controlling power of sin by His strength and grace. 

However, if you are just kind of playing with Christianity, it won’t do you any good. Half-measures accomplish nothing. We need to whole-heartedly surrender to God and submit to Him. If you haven’t done that yet, do it today. Today is the day of salvation. Trust me, this is one of those issues that if you put it off for a year and you are actually still alive a year from now, you will wish you had started today. And, having added another year of pursuing the lusts of the flesh you will find it harder to start then. So just go ahead and start today.

Just surrender yourself today to the Lord and let Him cleanse you of your sins. Then rely on His word and His people to help you grow. Do exactly what the Corinthians did to surrender themselves to the Lord. 

Acts 18:8 says, “And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.” If you haven’t committed your life to Christ through faith in the working of God in baptism (immersion in water) for the remission of sins, do it today. Don’t wait. There is no other plan by which you may be set free from your sins and receive the salvation Jesus offers.

Don’t delay. Today is the day of salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC