I love the 4th of July! I guess it’s just the patriot in me and the thoughts of so many who have given their lives for our country’s freedoms over the many years. What a privilege to live in a free country!
Even more so, as a Christian, I really celebrate my freedom…in Christ! He alone gave His life on the cross to make the payment for my sins. Amen and Hallelujah!
Not only that, yet because of Him, I realize that I am now free from the power of sin! That does not mean that it is impossible for me to ever sin again in this life (my wife and I both wish that were the case!), but that it is now possible for me to say “no” to my fleshly desires for sin and to say “yes” to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:16 says it this way: “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?”
The question posed above is that if you “present yourselves” to sin, then as a Christian, you can still become enslaved to sin’s power. However, as a Christian and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you now have the ability to say “no” to sin and to “present yourselves” to obedience to Christ which is doing what is right (righteous).
What an awesome power we possess in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! To think that God lives in us to enable us to do what is right and to say no to “sin” means that we cannot ever say that we are “powerless” over sin. Those who have been addicted to drugs and alcohol cannot say that they are “powerless” over sin either because it would contradict the Word of God. Philippians 2:13 states: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
If you are a Christian, then God works in you to want and to do His good and holy will. Sin has no more power over you UNLESS you allow it to have power over us. Say “yes” to the Holy Spirit today!