The Devotional - R023

The Devotional

Comment:

The law and the regulation of my career life in the Navy was no longer effective in civilian life. All of this was once tolerated by civilians while I was in the military, but now that I was retired and like every other civilian; my bark of the laws of military life had lost its bite. I found that the ways of the civilian were more liberal and less conforming to time schedules and maneuvers. Training also took a hit, since all training was at or on the job site and most all of it required rework. Extending the time allotted was decreasing the profit margin. It was not the answer to just sit back and watch the time clock spend down the profit, this was depressing. While this analogy is not clearly revealing the intent of doing or not doing what the apostle says we should not do in Romans 6:15, it does reveal that in these two realms of restriction and liberty. That while one way is regulated by law and the other regulated by no law, human unrighteousness is alive and well in both ways of life. 

What then? Shall we sin because we are no longer under law but under grace? Certainly not! With this we ought to clearly see that whether we live by regulation or by grace, it is SIN that destroys, not the law of God or the grace of God, but the personal sin within the economy of God’s way of Righteousness in His children who are made in His image. The Law of God does not take away sin, the Law reveals it; the grace of God has taken away the sin of the world opening the door for God’s redeemed children to walk by grace. Take the moment and read Romans 7:7-12.

Challenge: Romans 6:15-23

You have heard or read that I love the Living Word of God and it is true “I Do!” a prayer thought that I have is that by the ability of communicating to those who read these devotionals, some may acquire this same love for the Word of God. You may say, this sounds good but I would rather love Jesus, please note these verses of scripture. 1 John 1:1-4; the gospel of John, John 1:1-14 and Genesis 1:1-27 – “Then God said”, Jesus is the Living Word!

Romans 6:16 – Do you not know? The question that the apostle Paul has is one that is rhetorical, in that you do not need to answer it, you know the answer already. Like, “I see that you are sitting in a tub of water, you are not wet are you?” Thus if I present my human life to unrighteous living I am then a “slave” to live unright, all of my ways will be devoted to the love of self and everyone in my path will feel the effects. Little love for others and lots of love for myself.

On the other hand if I present my life to Godliness I will become a “slave” to live right, all of my ways will be devoted to loving others and everyone in my path will feel the effects in that I have their best interests in my mind rather than my own – Philippians 2:3-4. You might consider; is this all that important? Should I not protect myself from this same thing from others around me? It is true that if I practice righteousness I may be hurt by those who do not. Here is a question you should consider answering.

Should I return to being a lover of sin and become its slave? By the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus we have through the gift of grace been set free of this slavery and have become bondservants (lovers of God) of righteousness, so the right answer is NO. I love God, He has taught me daily that He will never leave me, nor will He forsake me. WHY THEN SHOULD I LEAVE HIM? So I gladly present my life to God as a bondservant to do righteousness. Being sanctified daily, set free from sin as obedient as I can be. For the wages of sin is the reward of death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus the LORD.

The reward of death spoken of by the apostle in this section has nothing to do with eternal damnation, but it has everything to do with the loss of fellowship and sanctification with God in time. When you lose fellowship with someone you love, the pain is like death. Now listen up; eternity does not begin when you die, eternal life began when you first believed the gospel. Don’t break your fellowship with God by living as you once did, as a slave to sin.