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 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.

Romans 6:16-18

In a conversation with a friend some time ago, we discussed the idea of what freedom in Christ really is. We used different descriptive words, but in the end, we were talking about the power of God to sanctify our lives so that we more and more accurately reflect the holiness of God in our day to day lives.

“Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
Romans 6: 22

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We may want to rush toward the end of the verse speaking of a fruitful sanctified life expecting eternal life, but first, we must be set free from (now this is not a popular word, is it?) sin.

Paul’s answer to sin is not my best efforts or intentions. The answer to sin is not rule-following or dwelling on my past. The answer to sin is not trying to dress it up by calling it something other than what it is… sin. No, the answer to being a slave to sin is to become a slave of God.

Now, that’s also a little uncomfortable, isn’t it? Are you willing to be a slave to God? Godly surrender is the only way to freedom.