ICS Daily Devotions
Die a Little
Romans 6:16, 19b (NKJV) Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? .… For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
Freedom is overrated. Human beings are constantly clamouring to be free. But free from what? To do whatever we want? Is this really freedom? Truth is we are not our own; we are all slaves. The Bible tells us in Romans that we are slaves to whom or what we present ourselves to obey! We are either slaves of sin that lead to death, or of obedience that leads to righteousness. There is no way around it.
Death is inevitable because it also leads to life. In fact, we all die a little every day. Unbelievers and believers alike. Unless they repent, unbelievers live in sin that leads to death. At the same time, we believers must also daily live a life of death to sin. There is no way around that one either.
Having been adopted into sonship through Christ, we are born again. We now have a new man empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul spurs us in the knowledge that there is a power available to us for godly living. We are given the power to break the cycle. We have the power to live differently! We are no longer slaves of sin but slaves of righteousness.
Romans 12: 1 (NKJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
As we live out this life in Christ, we must continually allow our minds to be renewed and live out the new life. Not based on what we want, how we feel, or what we think.
It is a process to think beyond our ‘self’. It is a process that begins with a decision we must make not to be conformed to this world; to willingly offer ourselves as a living sacrifice before God. To spurn what is natural to us; to daily pick up our cross, to daily die a little to our desires, and present ourselves to righteousness and holiness.
It’s not so bad, this death. By dying a good death, we live a good life. A life in Christ.
Sermon Series: A Great Start to 2021
