Sunday 21 Jul 2013

Sunday Reading: Romans 6:16-20

Key Verse: Romans 6:17
17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Devotion:
Each of us has the choice as to whether we want to continue following our sinful ways or to turn away from them and to follow the ways that Christ has taught us through His Word. The apostle taught these words using an example that was close to their hearts at that time; he taught them by giving the example of slaves and masters, in that being a slave you follow the one master and that is all. We cannot truly understand how true that is unless we too have experienced slavery in our own lives.

We could look at this in modern ways as being loyal to a particular person in charge or a particular business. When you work for one company that has several competitors then you remain loyal to the company you work for. If you choose to become loyal to the competitor then you will find that you either lose your job or you find you cannot honestly work for them and leave of your own accord. That is the choice that we have with our lifestyles.

Initially we are caught up in sinful ways and because we know no other ways we continue on in those sinful ways. We then may get to hear about God and hear about how we can choose to live a life that is very different. If we accept those new ways as being the truth then we are going to have to make a choice. Either we stop our sinful ways and turn to the ways of God, or we continue to fight between being loyal to the world and loyal to God. We cannot honestly serve both the world and God, so we have to make a choice.

When we make the choice to follow God we make a choice to change our lives, whether we realise it or not. As we accept the truth from God’s Word we accept that life is different and that we now have a choice to make. God is not forcing us to make any choices but rather He is giving us the truth about the choice we have to make. It is not nice to be shown that we are sinners, but once we get over that horror we can make a sensible choice and God will continue to keep us as He tries to change our ways for the better.

Points to Ponder:
What choices do you face?

Do you see how God guides you now?