Bonus Devos from Jenny!

Hey Guys! Pastor Ben asked me if I wanted to write the blog for Thursday but when I was doing my devos this morning I was overwhelmed with all of the good stuff that was packed into today's scripture and I wanted to share with you what God was speaking to my heart. So you get an extra one this week thrown in just cause I love you! Tomorrow you will still have to check back and see who won in the coin toss for writing Thursday's entry :)

ScriptureRomans 6:15-23

Observation/Application
This entire portion really stuck out me. When you're reading, do you ever feel that God made sure to write something just for you? That's how I feel about this, well I feel that about all of the scriptures for today actually, but these in particular are what I want to focus on.

Paul is talking about the concept of how before we were saved, we were slaves to sin, and now that we are saved, we are slaves to righteousness. He reminds us that no matter who or what it is that we are giving ourselves to, we are willing, obedient slaves to that. I looked up the term slave and it is defined as "one who is completely subservient to a dominating influence." In other words, it is someone who is willingly putting themselves under the guiding influence of another. In verses 17-18, it says, "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."

God really impressed upon my heart that all of the junk in my life that I feel is so hard for me to give up, for whatever reason, the things that I have allowed myself to become a slave to, that I am just that, a willing slave to my sin. There is nothing in this world that is holding me to my sin, but its that I continue to choose to make myself submissive to it. Everyday that I chose to hold onto that sin is a day that I am choosing to be a slave to my flesh instead of a slave to the Spirit.
Paul used a phrase that really stuck in my heart and got ahold of me and its where he says "...obedient from the heart." Obedience. That's a hard concept for me to swallow sometimes. No one likes feeling like they have to obey someone or some set of rules or whatever. Christ calls us to obey Him though and so here I can see that it is through an act of obedience to Him that I make myself a slave of righteousness. Its a choice guys. I may not want to lay down my sin that has become so comfortable to me, but we already know that the end of all those things is death. They may seem good and fine now, but they will get us nowhere and will only hold us captive to death instead of allowing us the freedom of having the abundant life that God wants and has for us. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

My question to you is this: What are you making yourselves slaves to? And will you choose to be obedient from your heart and make yourself a slave of righteousness?

Prayer
Precious Jesus, I thank you for this word today. Thank you for bringing to light for me that I am not supposed to be bound by the chains that hold me captive in my life to sin. That it is not that I don't have a choice in the matter but that it is only by my wiling obedience to it that I am still bound to it. Thank you for reminding me that you want so much more for me and that you have simply asked me to make a decision in my heart to lay those things down and to come under submission to you. I pray that you will put in all of our hearts a desire to follow after the things of you and that we will find the strength and courage, through you, to conquer our sin.
I love you Lord!