Greeting In the Name of the Lord:
Romans 6:22 (NLT)
But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Bob Dylan was correct when he said, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody…it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gonna have to serve somebody.” We live in a society that values individualism and self-determination. We live by the creed “I did it my way.” Therefore, we like to think that we are not slaves to anyone or bound to do anything except what we choose. How wrong we are! We are all slaves to someone or something. Paul makes it all very plain – we are either slaves to sin or slaves to God. A person who chooses not to live as a slave to God is a slave to their own sinful desires and they are controlled by those desires. He proves this point by saying, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Rom. 6:16, NLT). If we choose to whole-heartedly live according to what our sinful desires tell us to do then we make ourselves its slave. Thank God there is an option, we can become slaves to God and righteous living. We can choose to obey God and His Word. Righteous living is based on the concept of holiness – being set apart for God. Since God Himself is holy He requires that those who would follow Him live lives of holiness. As the Apostle Peter wrote, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16, NLT). We can choose to be slaves to sin which leads to death (Rom. 6:23), or we can choose to be slaves to God which leads to life. What’s your choice?
In Christ,
Pastor Mark
Greetings In the Name of the Lord 