I Can't Help It!
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, I’m grateful for the wisdom and guidance in Your Word that shows me how to live rightly and well.
Read ROMANS 6:15-23
[15] What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! [16] Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom 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 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. [19] I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery 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 to 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 Christ Jesus our Lord. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
What kind of "slaves" are Christians considered?Compulsion is a terrifying thing. Some inner urge compels us to do something. Our heads tell us no good will come of it. It will lead to greater brokenness. We will feel torn up inside; important relationships will be damaged. Yet we can’t help ourselves. This universal reality explains why people choose brokenness over wholeness in so many parts of their lives.
One consequence of Jesus’ death is we have been set free from slavery to sin (17,18). The hold that brokenness once had on us has been shattered. It is possible (though not easy, as we’ll see next week) to escape our inner compulsions. So Paul urges us to make the most of it. In v. 21 it’s as if he is saying, “In the cold light of day, what good did surrendering to your inner compulsions do you? He goes on to say that the ultimate consequence of brokenness is complete fragmentation, that is, death (23). This is deserved, just as wages are deserved for work done. In contrast, we’re no longer slaves to sin when ultimate wholeness is offered. Eternal life is not a reward for good works; it’s God’s free gift to us.
Apply
What does ultimate wholeness look or feel like for you? Ask God to help you embrace your eternal life in Jesus.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for the gift of wholeness and eternal life through Jesus. I’m so glad for this wonderful gift from You.
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