HOBSON’S CHOICE
Opening Prayer
Great and Steadfast God, You are from everlasting to everlasting. In this constantly changing world, You are my forever God.
Read Romans 6:15–23
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Footnotes
- Romans 6:23 Or through
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
If someone were spying on your life – what you think and say, how you spend your time (and money), what you do when no one else is watching – what would they conclude about how important Jesus is to you?Since the age of 8 I have answered ‘Liverpool’ to the question, ‘Which football team do you support’? Yet I’ve never been to Anfield. I could not name the whole team. Do I support Liverpool, or not? Paul uses a different human example: slavery (v 19). Neither really fits what he’s trying to get at, but both give some insight.
His point is: before Jesus, our lives were ruled by sin, which leads to death (vs 17,23). Jesus sets his people free and gives us a choice: will we offer ourselves back to sin and ‘ever-increasing wickedness’, or will we offer ourselves to God and ‘righteousness leading to holiness’ and life (vs 19,23)?
In other words, does your life match up to who you are? The question is important because, if I don’t look and act like a Liverpool fan, I’m probably not one; and if I don’t look and act like someone who has been delivered from sin, and given a new life in Jesus…
Apply
Who would you describe as a holy man or woman of God? What is it about them that is ‘holy’? How can you be more like them? Choose one thing that will help you grow in holiness and commit to doing it.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, I want to be like You in Your incarnation, Your service and love, Your endurance and Your mission. Keep me daily in tune with Your values.
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