Free

“So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)

            When Paul wrote, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires,” he means that you don’t have to let sin reign in your life.  You can choose NOT to obey sin’s desires or claims on your life.  At one time you could not do this because sin claimed you as its own.

            Sin can lay several legal claims against people: 1) you can never meet God’s legal expectations of you, and you are therefore bound by those legal structures like a fly in a spider web, so that you are not free to do what you know is right, 2) you do not have it in your heart to do consistently what is right, and you therefore live under the dominion of sin, 3) since sin is the ruler over your life dominion, you have no real choice but to obey its desires, and 4) since you will fail at right living consistently because sin is the dominant force in your life, you have no choices and you are not as free as you think you are.  These are the “legal” claims of sin against people.  Downright depressing, isn’t it?

            That’s the bad news.  Here’s the good news:  Jesus Christ did something for us that made it possible to free us from the dominion of sin, to cancel all of sin’s “legal” claims against us.  He accepted the full penalty of our sins, and all of our sins died with Him on the cross.  He was then raised from the dead, but sin was not.  It stayed dead.  All legal claims are now dismissed.  Grace rules.  We are acquitted.  Now, He offers us this life in the free world of grace, and we need only accept it by faith.

            When we accept this offer by faith, our old sin life dies, and He raises us up spiritually to a new life that is free.  We died to sin, and sin therefore has no more claim on us.  Now, we are alive to God and therefore free to live and to choose.  So, choose to live.

Lord, We have made our choice in faith, and You have now ushered us into life through forgiveness and out of the death that came from sin.  Thank You for leading us to this life.  Help us to share it with others today.  Amen.