Category Archives: Sin

A Slave by Choice

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“Slavery” is such a bad word. We don’t like the word because we see slavery as degrading and an insult to human dignity. Indeed it is, but each of us is a slave. That’s not my opinion; it’s a fact stated by the Holy Spirit of God.

16Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:16-23)

Even though we may not be physical slaves in service to a physical master, we’re slaves to whatever it is that is lord of our life. If your job is your lord, you are a slave to your job. If family if your lord, you are a slave to your family. If Jesus Christ is your Lord, you are, as Paul described, a slave to righteousness.

And that’s the paradox.

I am a slave, yet I am set free! How can this be? Because “Those things [that] result in death” are things that truly ensnare, but “if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!” (John 8:36)

And the retirement plan is out of this world!

The radical homosexual agenda

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This is a “Bible blog”, not a political blog, but as much a political issue as the homosexual agenda is, homosexuality itself is very much a Bible issue, and one that we as Christians must deal with. I’m not going to say much on the subject — at least not in this post — so I’ll make it as short as possible…

If you’re as concerned as I am about the various issues surrounding homosexuality that one by one we’re forced to accept as new laws are passed, I urge you to read two web pages:

  1. The first is the July 2008 update of “Focus Action”. Focus Action is a spin-off of Focus on the Family, but totally separate from FOTF for tax purposes. Read the whole page, but especially the first 2 sections, comprising only 10 paragraphs.
  2. The second is from a group called the Liberty Counsel, whose tagline says, “Restoring the culture one case at a time by advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family.” Lots of good stuff there, but today this is what I’m asking you to read and sign if you’re so inclined: Petition Opposing Anti-Faith “Hate Crimes” And “Hate Speech” Laws. Now I’m not a huge fan of petitions and I rarely sign them — especially online ones — because I’m not convinced signing them does any good. However, I can only hope and pray this one has a powerful effect. Here’s the first paragraph from the page:

    As homosexual activists push for more rights, the result will be the attempt to criminalize beliefs that oppose their lifestyle — especially Christian beliefs. For example, Colorado recently passed a law (SB 200) outlawing communication that “discriminates” based on “sexual orientation” — in essence outlawing the Bible in that state!

    That’s the Colorado bill Focus Action wrote about. Courts are ruling with increasing frequency that we don’t have the right to say the name of Jesus in public, can’t preach on the street corner, etc., so I’m going to support pretty much any movement that opposes bills like Colorado SB200.

If you think I’m way off base, tell me so, and tell me why.

Facing the consequences of our actions

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Actions have consequences. We all know that. Sometimes when it comes time to face those consequences though, we do everything we can to avoid it or to hide our guilt. Is that so surprising? That is, after all, what father Adam taught us to do (Genesis 3:6-13). A much more Christian response is one showed by someone who wasn’t a Christian at all — David (2 Samuel 12:1-25).

I was reminded of this human tendency — the tendency to try to hide our sin — when reading another blog post this morning. This post told of a 14 year-old girl in Texas who gave birth to a baby boy in a school bathroom, then stuffed his mouth with toilet paper and drowned him in the toilet. As the author of the blog post states:

I cannot imagine the terror and despair this girl must have been experiencing during her pregnancy — knowing how fundamentally altered her life would be once the child was born, fearing her parents’ reactions, fearing the sideways looks and hushed glances from classmates and people in general, fearing the great unknown of motherhood. Her fears were real and resulted in the death of a baby boy. She was paralyzed by those fears during the pregnancy, undoubtedly wishing it would “just go away,” but without the means or wherewithal to procure an abortion — who knows about the father of her child. But wishing her pregnancy would simply go away only resulted in that paralysis that allows time to pass and the natural consequences of chosen behavior to come to fulfillment. She gave birth nearly nine months after having sex, as nature dictates, after weeks of fear-induced inaction and useless wishing it away. She was afraid. Her son is dead. Her fears, however, were based entirely on a lie.

Nor can I imagine what fears this girl was facing, but I do know (as do you) that her actions were inappropriate. I would urge you to read the rest of the post. (Let me say as an aside, the blog quoted is a political blog. The reason I link to the blog is not to try to steer you into voting for one candidate or another. That is not the purpose of this blog, nor would I ever use it for that. My only reason for pointing you to the post and urging you to read it is because the author makes some very valid points about actions and consequences. Although he does not write the post with the intention of teaching a Christian lesson, there are great lessons to be found there, and I urge you to find them.)

As Christians, we are forgiven. Forgiveness though, does not mean escaping the consequences of sin in this life. I have sinned many times. Sometimes I’ve hidden this sin from others and sometimes I’ve admitted my sin and faced the consequences. Sometimes this has cost me greatly, but the eternal reward of repentence is far greater than any temporary consequences we face in this life.