We Must Decide Daily Whose Servant We Are

Religion

Something wonderful happened to us at the Cross. The Scripture says that “we died with Christ”. Our old body of sin was destroyed (Romans 6:6). Indeed this is good news. It was that one judicious act, along with the miraculous resurrection that defines us. Once we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior we moved from death unto life.(Ephesians 2) We become someone we’ve never been before. (2 Cor. 5:17). We became fellow citizens of heaven with all the other saints (Ephesians 2:19)

What does all of this mean? It means that we have passed from essentially being a sinner by nature to a saint by calling. We now have a new nature, Christ nature. (Romans 6:5). It means we no longer have to be a slave to sin.(Romans 6:6-8). Before we trusted Christ we had no ability to resist and overcome sin, but now, since we have been placed in Christ, we now have a choice to live righteously in Christ Jesus.

To a committed follower of Jesus, perpetual sin is no longer our lifestyle. Christ in us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can help us overcome every sin and stronghold that will come our way. Our life can now be one of continual victory instead of continual defeat.

When I was a child I had the privilege of being raised in a church where wonderful testimony meetings were a frequent event. There was this dear old saint whom everyone loved and admired. She was always one of the first to offer a testimony. One of the things she would say every time she testified was, “I’m just an old sinner saved by grace, I deserve Hell and God’s judgment because I fail Him every day.” Several things went through my young mind when I heard that statement. First, I thought is this what I have to look forward to in my Christian life, a life of daily defeat and failure before God? Secondly, because that same sentiment was proclaimed from the pulpit, I believed that daily failure is the normal Christian life.

No one ever told me that Jesus defeated sin’s dominion over us at the cross, and because of that we don’t have to be daily defeated. The Scripture proclaims, “…knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7)

Our old self (old nature) was put to death. We now have a new nature that is freed from sin’s daily dominion. Does that mean we live without sin? Of course not, we all sin but now sin does not have to be our daily master. Rather than identifying myself as just an “Ole sinner saved by grace” I now identify myself as “A saint who sometimes sin”. See the difference?

Why is this important? Because you become what you set your mind upon. That’s the reason the Scripture teaches in Colossians 3, “Set your affections on things above, not on things on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

If you set your mind on, “I’m just a sinner saved by Grace”, that’s actually what you will do – sin! You will consciously and sub-consciously do what sinners do best, they sin. But if you set your mind on the fact that you are “A Saint who sometimes sins” then you will do what saints do best and that is live righteously in Christ Jesus. Understand it’s not the phrase that is important but it’s acknowledging the truth that you have actually been set free from sins dominion over your life.

What’s my point? We must decide daily whose servant we are and offer Him our lives to be a living sacrifice of service and love to others. Will you be a servant of sin or a servant of righteousness, the choice is yours?

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