“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?”
Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we’ve been freed from the power of sin. We are not under the law anymore. We are, in fact, under grace now. Should we just sin since grace is more powerful than sin? By no means. Whoever you listen to and obey is your master.
Those Paul is writing to, who used to have sin as their master, became obedient from their hearts to the teaching of Christ, the Word of God. They became servants of righteousness through their freedom from sin. Obedience and service begin by what we’re listening to. What we listen to, the truth we take hold of, is going to determine our actions. And our actions reveal who our master is.
This phrase, “obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching” in verse 17 is super important. Grace is God’s power delivered to man. God has sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts to guide, to steer, to control our lives. The standard of teaching He’s given believers is the Word of God. When we listen to the Word of God and yield to the Spirit of God, we can be changed in our minds by the Word and in our hearts by the Spirit. Then we can obey what God is asking us to do.
Let’s not be volunteers of Satan. If we have been freed from sin, let’s not run back to jail. When sin becomes a believer’s way of life, it reveals God is no longer their master. They have agreed with Satan’s lies and succumbed to evil desires, which draw us toward impurity and lawlessness. Today I pray that we would notice when we’ve surrendered our identity as servants of righteousness to become volunteers of sin. Let us allow grace to not only free us from sin, but keep us from sin by surrendering our hearts to God, listening to Him, and doing what God says in His Word and by His Spirit.