Freedom Isn't Free

Well should then, we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. Romans 6:1-12


The problem with freedom is that it is never free. True freedom comes at the cost of life by the shedding of blood. When the price for our freedom is paid by others we can often mistake our liberty as a license to abuse the freedom. We forget the high cost by which our freedom comes. While we have liberty from the law, such liberty does not dictate that we are free to do whatever we desire. However, such misunderstanding has plagued man from his creation. Adam was given the perfect environment, the perfect promise of eternal life, the perfect Father and only one commandment.

Oddly enough man is usually separated from God by the one thing they are unwilling to surrender to the Lordship of Christ; one man wanted to bury his father, another could not surrender his wealth, yet another wanted the assurance of where disciple might lead before he would follow Christ. You and I never fall by the abundance of sins, which will not let us go; we each fall by the one sin of which we will not let go.

As God’s children, the price for our freedom has been paid; our refusal to abandon that which separates us from our God and robs us of our potential in God is indeed sin. The wages of sin is death; this eternal cancer threatens, not only us, but threatens those for whom we are also responsible; Eve’s deception becomes Adam’s sin, the penalty for each is the same.

The Apostle closes this passage with a command; only one command, but is it too much for us to consider? “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires.” It is just one command, but is it too much for you and I to consider in order finding our way back to God? Let us pray. Amen!