Slaves Of
Righteousness
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under
grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as
obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which
leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have
become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural
limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impunity
and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to
righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to
righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you
now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been
freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.
The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:15-23
All over the world devout, well-meaning people – rich, poor, and
in-between – struggle to understand that Jesus paid it all. Convinced that they
have to do something to earn God’s favor, they attempt to pay for salvation as
best they can.
We need to understand that when God gave His Son Jesus as a
sacrifice, the bill for our sin was paid. For us to try to pay for God’s gift is
insulting to Him. Genuine trust is believing that God
has already taken care of the payment. We don’t need to buy something that has
already been purchased with Jesus’ death on the cross.
If we could earn our salvation, Christ
would not have died to provide it.
Our Daily Bread –