Hosanna Restoration Church

The good news is that we can choose. The bad news is that we can choose wrong. Everyone knows about making wrong choices. We have all done it. Most of us have warned others against it and been warned against it ourselves. Some people say that everyone has to learn their own way, which implies that we learn best the hard way. I think most of us would have to admit that we would rather learn the easy way!

In Romans chapter 6, we are being taught about the grace of God. We are warned not to continue in sin. After all, we have died to sin, and should therefore no longer be a slave to it. We have been given the authority to choose to do what is right. We are no longer to allow sin to control our lives. Of course sin will tempt us, but we are to say no to it. We have the power to overcome every temptation.

We can give ourselves completely to God and live this new life that He offers us. Or, we can choose to continue in our old ways. We can choose to struggle against what we know is right. That is, after all, what we do. The Holy Spirit comes and tells us how to overcome the temptation, but we choose to go ahead with our own ways anyway.

Well, the verse that began this devotion says that we can choose what ever we want to obey. This is really not complicated at all. What ever we choose to obey, we become the slave of it. If we choose to go with temptation, we spend a lot of time serving it. First we have to justify it. This usually requires lying to ourselves and perhaps others. It requires making the Word of God powerless, because have to declare that we can not help it. That it is because of something from our past, or what someone did to us. This is the same as saying that God lied when He said we were free.

We can choose to live the life God offers us, or we can choose to live however we want. We can choose to condemn and be condemned or we can choose what God says. It is great to walk in the life that God gives. It is miserable to be a slave to things that Christ died to free us from.

This verse ends saying, “you can choose to obey God and receive His approval.” Isn’t that what we all truly want. What is it that is keeping you back? What thing is in your life that you are holding on to so tightly. What is your greatest weakness. Where do you most frequently fail to choose that which will win God’s approval.

We all have our spots. Some are blind spots, and others are so obvious that we hate ourselves for them. Well don’t waste your time with self pity, rationalization, or anything else. Simply look at it and determine that you will not longer be a slave to it. You have the power in the name of Jesus to always please God. But of course, it is what ever you choose that will be your master.