Romans 6:12-23
Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reflection
When we are baptized and we become children of God and freely receive the gift of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, things begin to change. Things in life change drastically. For some people that change is very fast, for other people that change is slow, for all people that change is a life long change that leads to living the eternal life that Jesus gave to all of us in the resurrection.
This change involves a perspective. We are no longer a slave to that old master Sin. We now have changed owners. We become a "free" slave of sorts to a new Master, God. This change in perspective is life altering. This change may take a life-time of sorts but it is a HUGE change. A change that begins and continues.
Even while we live in a world of sin, death, illness, evil, hunger and so many other negative effects, we have a present and a future hope that is secure in the life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of God in Christ Jesus. We are no longer bound and chained to the sinfulness that we once were bound of which the results were death. Jesus took care of that for us. We are now free from sin. As a result of this realization and this fact, we boldly and gladly respond to God's love through righteous actions of love and care for God and for one another, just as Jesus acted in love towards us. Once again... a huge change in life and perspective.
In some ways we now realize a move of faith evolving and changing into our spirituality. God's Spirit dwells within us. We say and do things that in reflection seem to be beyond ourselves. When we live with God as our Master, we give ourselves over to God with the hope that God will use us for God's will in this place in which we live our earthly lives.
And when our desires are for the will of God and not the control and will of our own lives, our actions and motives and our very hearts are changed. Changed not by what we have done but rather by what God has done for us in Jesus.
And we stop and ponder in our lives... just what is going on? As we ponder we realize that for the world, maybe God is not in control... but for us... God is in control... and we are just fine with that! We are overjoyed by God's presence and leading in our lives. We look to God and live the righteous life God gives us to live. Sure, we stumble and sin... but remember... through what Jesus did and through the love of God... sin is not our master... God is our Master.
Thanks be to God!
Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I
Prayer
Lord, as I wake each day and live out the baptismal call, lead me, guide me, and be my Master. For I live for you as you gave your life for me... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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