It might be over eating, emotional purchases, gossiping, lying, cheating, stealing. Whatever that sin no matter how big or small we like to think it is holds us captive until we are ready to see it for what it is. Our sin becomes master over our life.
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" Romans 6:15-16
Whatever we present ourselves to we are slaves of that very thing. We can be slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. Whatever we obey. Do we obey our flesh or our Savior? We shouldn't allow ourselves to be held as slaves of this world, but we are to be slaves under God's righteousness.
"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness." Romans 6:17-19
Even though we have been set free from our sin by our Lord Jesus Christ we can still be under that very sin if we are allowing it to remain in our lives. We must make a concious choice to let it go. Lay it at the cross, at the foot of Jesus and pick it up no more. We must find strength in Him to walk away from those very sins that hold us back. We are made strong in Him. He has the key to set us free. We can find freedom through His grace. He can unlock our chains, but we have to allow Him into our heart to receive the gift of freedom. Sin leads to more sin. The only way to stop the unrelenting lies of Satan is to receive Christ and give Him reign over us. Once we surrender to Him we can find freedom and have not just life, but abundant life.
"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:20-23
In our relationship with Christ we have become new. We are not the same as we once were walking in sin. We are still sinners, but we are now sinners saved by grace. We let the old go and make a choice to grab hold of the new that God has waiting for us. We are no longer slaves of our flesh. Slaves of this world. But we belong to God and in Him we find a new relationship that leads to life everlasting and not death. If we stayed on the road of our flesh the only road it would lead to is death. We no longer have to live ashamed. Our past has been forgiven and we now live in the hope of today. We live in the promise of tomorrow. So we must ask ourselves this question. "What are we slaves to?"
