Who’s the Boss of You?
Opening Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, I am glad to recognize and accept Your absolute authority over my life this day.
Read Romans 6:15-23
[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 Christ Jesus our Lord. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What big contrast of life does Paul present here?Slavery was a common feature of the Roman world. Slaves may have been well treated, even respected, but they were still slaves. They were not free. Their masters had absolute rights over them. So, when Paul uses slavery as an illustration of sin’s mastery, the implications are clear: the Romans could choose sin as their master to rule their lives, or they could choose another “master” and discover the benefits. Are you owned by guilt because of unforgiven sins, paying you back in bitterness and toxic relationships? Or are you owned by selfishness, its reward an increasingly isolated life? When sin is our master, the so-called “benefits” gnaw away at the soul (21). Ultimately its wages are devastating. Still, we have a choice. We can choose a new master. The benefits that come with God’s oversight are liberating, healing, life-changing (22), even if they are painful or humbling at first. And through it all, he offers us a relationship that lasts for all eternity (23). Life with him can never be the same as under the old slave-master.
Apply
Is there an area of your life you should surrender to God today? Take time to reflect and pray about it.
Closing prayer
Gracious Lord, I want to have You as my only master. I want to enjoy the freedom only You give.
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