Begin with 2 minutes of stillness and silence before God.

If you've been around church circles long enough, you've probably heard some people say something along the lines of, "Well, no one's perfect; we're all sinners. We sinned yesterday, will sin tomorrow; shucks, we're probably sinning right now and don't even know it."

Sounds humble, doesn't it? In comparison to Christ, it sounds like we're taking our rightful place as forgiven sinners. Now, a person who says and believes those things, does that person sound like they're free from sin, or a slave to it? Sounds like a slave to me. Does it even sound like they have a choice? Nope.

But let's see what scripture has to say about that in Romans 6.

1-2: What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

6-12: For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

14: For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

22: But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!

I recommend reading the entire chapter of Romans 6, but just from reading this handful of verses, there's no way to take an honest look at that and walk away believing that we are supposed to be slaves to sin. Instead, we read that we died to sin, are no longer called to live in sin, are free from sin, and are no longer slaves to it. Not only does that mentality keep you being a slave to sin, but you're also a slave to and bound to everything that comes with it. Reread in verse 21, that's the fruit of being a slave to sin, which leads to death.

Death to your clean conscience before God, death to your relationships, death to your identity in Christ, death to how you see yourself, how you think God sees you, how you see God, and how you see others. It's death to being able to live out a new life in Christ. And you exchange that for living with guilt, shame, and condemnation, which never came from God.

And you may still not be convinced. You may still have a mentality of, “Well, that sounds great but everyone struggles with something.” Who are we called to follow? Are we following everyone, or are we following Christ? Because in John 14:12, Jesus said, "The things I do, you'll do if you believe."

But what happens if you don't believe it? You won't live it out. You'll end up weighing yourself by yourself. You'll go to bed at night taking a test that you made, you score, you fail, and that God never gave you. The truth and reality is that Jesus took the test, got a perfect score, and handed it to you, saying, "This is yours."

That mentality we talked about at the beginning of this devotional - it sounds humble. The ways of man seem right, but looking at scripture, we can see that it's just a false sense of humility as we boast in our ability to sin, looking less than Christ, when we were made in His image. So now, you have a choice to make. Are you going to believe in your ability to miss the mark, or are you going to believe in what Christ paid for to empower you to live out this thing we call Christianity?

And you might be thinking, "Well, I want that, but I don't know how to step into that. I've been thinking one way for so long that I'm having a hard time believing that could possibly be true for me." Well, you're in luck because Scripture gives us the answer as well. Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Basically, saying that we experience change and transformation in stepping into what Christ paid for by thinking as we've never thought before, and not about what we're capable of doing.

The reason the focus is on the mind is that your consistent thoughts help cultivate what you believe to be true, and people will absolutely live out what they believe to be true. So, you can step into being a slave to righteousness, being bound to being right in the sight of God for all of eternity, so that you can just wake up and enjoy being His, instead of waking up trying not to sin against Him. There's a big difference.

So, what does this practically look like in our lives? When shame and guilt rear their ugly heads, you've got to wash that in the truth. You've got to turn to your heavenly Father and say, "God, I realize I wasn't made for these things. I realize that the things of my past, which are causing me to feel guilt and shame, aren't who I am anymore. You've actually made me brand new. You see me as holy, blameless, above reproach in your sight through the blood of Christ (Col 1:22). And the only thing I have to do is step into believing it. Father, thank you for the way You love me. Thank you for the way You see me. Thank you for making me brand new.”

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• How does the understanding that we are no longer slaves to sin but have been made new in Christ change the way I view my daily struggles and temptations?
  
• In what areas of my life do I still live as if I am bound by sin, rather than living in the freedom Christ has granted me through His sacrifice?
  
• How can I actively renew my mind, as Romans 12:2 suggests, to align more closely with God’s view of me as holy, blameless, and above reproach through the blood of Christ?
  
• Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for freeing me from sin through Christ. Thank you for your grace that empowers me to see myself as You see me: holy, blameless, and renewed. Thank you for fathering me to guide me away from guilt and shame, and lead me in living out my true identity in You. Thank you for the truth that sets me free. Amen.