Romans 6:6
“…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
After the Civil War, emancipated slaves found themselves in a new relationship with their old masters. Imagine the feeling! It had to be a curious mixture of joy and fear…
Jeremiah moved through town as a free man, until he encountered his old master in front of the grocer. Week after week he loads the master’s supplies — just like before. The day after the war was over he celebrated his freedom, until his old master drove up and said, “load my wagon.”
Why does he do it? He knows he is free. He knows he is no longer a slave to the master. Yet, he continues loading the wagon. When the old master calls, it is a lifetime of habitual responses that kicks in. Suddenly, he doesn’t feel free. He feels just as he always has felt — he feels like a slave who must respond to the master’s voice.
Christian, you were really set free at the cross from the control of sin. Our old relationship to sin (called “the old man”), was destroyed when Jesus died for us. Paul explains that we have the ability to do away with the “body of sin” — our old habitual responses and actions to the old sin master. We are free!
When the old master commands, we do not have to obey. We can live freely.
Jeremiah realized this one day. Walking along the dusty street he encountered the old master who gave the usual command to load the wagon. Jeremiah hesitates. Everything in him is ready to do as he has always done, but he is free — and now he knows it. “Load it yourself,” says Jeremiah. He walks away.
Overcoming sin begins as we accept God’s truth about ourselves. Sin is no longer your master. You are free. Live like it today!
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