Romans 6:16: 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?
Every person obeys some person or some thing. You could even be obeying Satan himself. Because of our very natures, we are servants or slaves to something or to somebody. Paul is saying here that the one who is our master is the one whom we obey. If you obey sin, then that is your master. Don’t say Christ is your master if you are living in sin; He brings you into the place of liberty. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” You will be free to live for Him, free to obey Him. 1
Obedience to God liberates us to be all we can be. As our Master, he completely knows us. He wrote the manual. To use Elisabeth Elliot’s words,
He is our Creator, the One whose spoken Word called into being the unimaginable thing called space and the equally unimaginable thing called time. He set the stars in trajectories and put the sliding shutter on the lizard’s eye. 2
Application
- Is the very first response from your heart to obey God or to justify your selfishness?
- Do you actually live like “God’s truth” is more important than “your truth?”
Prayer
Lord, teach me to surrender to You everyday, even before I get out of bed.
1. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
2. Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
