Posting from our nation's capital, Washington D.C., from May 22 through June 3.
Today's Reading: 1 Kings 10; 1 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 9; Romans 6
Scripture: Romans 6:17-18
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Observation: Slaves. Paul tells us that we are all slaves to something. And we get to choose our master. We choose between sin and righteousness. What I love about these verses is that Paul indicates that when I really choose with my whole heart to serve righteousness, I can experience freedom from sin. That is great news! Sin can be like a line hooked into us that gradually wears us down. But we can cut the line -- we can be free. To do so, I must decide once and for all that I will choose righteousness. Not that I will never again face temptation or never need to renew my choice. On the contrary, I must renew my choice daily, taking up my cross and following Jesus. But once the fundamental decision to live for God is made, subsequent decisions become stronger and stronger. Freedom is a beautiful thing.
Application: Make the choice to be a person who fully follows God. Put an end to half-measures. Give the Lord all of you and begin the journey on the path of freedom, righteousness, holiness and eternal life.
Prayer: Lord, I pray for myself and every person reading my message today that we would each decide to lay it all on the line for You. I pray that we would put aside anything we are holding back and surrender to You. Lord, complete freedom is what we seek -- may we fully walk in Your path of righteousness so that the issue of our choice is settled -- and we can walk in the fullness of freedom You provide.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
4 comments:
Thank you. It seems that the failure to live up to the "choice" feeds the fear of choosing it daily. How I pray for the strength to not be overwhelmed by my daily or even moment by moment failure, and to become obedient ( a slave) to righteousness.
Solomon's life should be an example to all of us as to how anyone, having made the choice to follow God and be obedient to His ways (a slave to righteousness), can slip from that place and become a slave to sin; with dire consequences. I'm always amazed when I read Solomon's story at how a man with more wisdom than anyone in history could fall away with such a loud thud! You are so right that it takes a daily choice. If we become complacent and give in to indulging "small" sins it becomes easier and easier to indulge all sin. A daily choice for righteousness also becomes easier the more we do that. Especially as we experience the blessings of freedom that "slavery" to righteousness brings. It's ironic that freedom to indulge sin leads to bondage and bondage to Christ leads to freedom.
Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
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