Freedom! (Romans 6: 12-23)
“Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
“What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, 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 greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
“When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Fear, doubt, shame, anger, desire, envy, and greed; these are powerful emotions which impel us to act in regretful ways. They bind us and back us into a corner from which we feel compelled to react. They defy reason, welling up from deep within causing a reflex of sorts. If we allow, they become the biggest part of us, as if we are their slaves, as if we do not have the ability to choose a better course. Emanating out of our deeply seated personalities, they are conditions to a multifaceted dilemma.
We see the result of acting on impulse best in others; those unattractive behaviors which repel. We say things like “what were they thinking?” because from the outward standpoint of emotionless reason the consequence is obvious. But we are not emotionless, hence we too react sometimes in equally harmful ways. This interplay weaves the fabric of life and can become the foundation of relationship. It is “the” struggle that we humans are commonly engaged in, almost without thinking. It embodies the core of our trials, causing us to wonder, in our better moments, how things could be if everyone simply took a time out while considering the “other,” and reflect calmly on the equitable best alternative.
A loving God was gracious enough to give sound instruction, which might not always seem intuitive, but is a healing balm in the long run. Through self-examination, these principles are meant to form us into mature individuals capable of love. Alas, when we make them the centerpiece while meditating upon our potential, these rules become transformational! This same gracious God who gives instruction also illumines us through the Holy Spirit and gives us power to succeed. We find in application the source of vitality. We experience in growth the fountainhead of joy.
Before Christ, before the diffusing mystery of grace, we were bound by the law. For sure, this instruction in and of itself can be a good tutor. But it also restricts. Feeling that we “have to” earn something locks us into a struggle of compulsion. In our right minds we of course want the good, but the flesh is weak. Now, as Christians, we are no longer under the hypnotic influence of this law induced battle. Our standing in God’s eyes, by His power, is preestablished releasing us from the burden of sin. Because we have nothing to prove we can simply be, and live life with finesse. Love, mercy, and grace become the beacon, the vary hallmark of our existence. Released from the past, and confident in our future, we can breathe.
Therefore, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12: 2)! Whatever your situation is, there are life-giving perspectives in the bible. Meditate on these. Cultivate the soul of your existence. Choose the good when you can see clearly, then run to that, with joy, when the opportunity presents itself.
Rejoice! You have found the truth, “and the truth will set you free” (John 8: 32)! Don’t be a slave any longer. Rather, live a life as a child of heaven, measuring up to your already given statis. At last, you are able to see and test what God’s perfect will is for your life. Choose freely knowing that it is for freedom that you have been redeemed. By this we finally worship in spirit and in truth. By this the fact that God is good is established and affirmed.