Slavery brings life, abundantly!

Romans 6

Yesterday we read that Paul talked about grace growing even stronger in times of sin. The response to that from the early church is not much more different than what many in today’s church may say, “Well if grace grows stronger the more we sin, then I guess it is OK to sin even more!” Paul spends time making sure we understand that that is not, OK!

Sin is generated two ways. Our flesh has a sinful nature and desires to fulfill that nature of selfishness, lust, pride, jealousy and so on. The devil also plays a part in our sin, less than our flesh but still a part. The devil’s desire is to destroy anything created in the image of God.

As long as we have a body made of sinful flesh we will always battle sin. Grace however enables us to overcome that basic sin and to deprive it of its power and to break the rule of sin’s power over our lives. Because we have a grace to rely on the destructive consequences of sin no longer have any control in our lives. There is great joy in being able to rely on God’s grace when we do sin but we must also realize we don’t need to surrender to sin.

We all serve a master. If our master is sin or our sinful nature then we are slaves to it, resulting in death. If our master is the Lord then we are slaves to righteousness with the end result being life here, abundant and eternal life.

It does not seem like it when we sin, but there is always a penalty to pay for it. One way or another we pay the price for sin. Will we sin as Christian? Yes! The difference under grace is that we are no longer in love with our desire to sin we have a love with the Father that grants us freedom. The joy is not in getting away with the sin but in all the blessings we receive from following the Lord.

As long as we are bound to sin we will never be who God has called us to be. Each of us was created with a purpose. That purpose requires us to know the love, joy, and peace of God. God is love, He is joy, He is peace, as we draw closer to Him the destruction of sin has no power over us. We are able to accomplish amazing things and live a righteous life full of freedom from sin.

There is a constant misery, like a constant back pain that we live in while we are slaves to sin. Like the back pain, we get used to it to the point where we can almost ignore it. When we come into freedom from sin or the back pain, we all of a sudden realize how much pain we were in. Life and freedom come from being a servant or slave of the Lord. Death comes from being a slave to sin.

If you are wondering why life is so difficult or frustrating right now, it may be because you are allowing sin to reign in that part of your life. Ask the Lord to show you, if it is sin related you have begun you trip to freedom, joy, and life abundant.

Tomorrow Romans 7