Delivered for Good

"'As for me, I am in your hands—do with me as you think best. But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard.' "Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, 'This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.' … Ahikam son of Shaphan stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed."     Jeremiah 26:14-16, 24

"Jeremiah was in a perilous situation. No doubt he was very afraid, as we saw in earlier passages. God did protect him, as promised. This passage bears remarkable similarities to what Jesus would experience centuries later. Jeremiah's suffering foreshadowed the far greater suffering that God allowed Jesus to endure. Jesus was turned over to the mob to be killed, because Jesus was sent to suffer and die so we could be delivered for good."
—Diane Eble, author of Abundant Gifts: A Daybook of Grace-Filled Devotions

My devotion today reminded me of this truth...that I have been delivered for good!  I am no longer enslaved to sin or self, but have been raised with Christ into a new life!  But the problem is, I've been living a defeated life - as though I'm still gagged and bounded by sin! 

In Romans 6:5-7, Paul writes, "Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that 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."


Even though we are saved, we are still human and thus prone to slipping back into living a life of sin - a life of defeat - a life out of control. 

But we don't have to.  Carefully read Romans 6:15-25,

"Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.


19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

We, who are in Christ, are not free from falling into sin.  Quite the contrary.  However, now that we are in Christ, we have His power and resources to live free from the control of sin in our lives!  How? 

• By CHOOSING to become a SLAVE of God!  (Romans 6:16)
• By WHOLEHEARTEDLY CHOOSING to OBEY GOD! (Romans 6:16-17)
• By CHOOSING to GIVE ourselves to righteous living! (Romans 6:19)
• By CHOOSING  to do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life!  (Romans 6:22)

Our salvation is a free gift from God through the Blood of Jesus Christ!  We can not do a single thing to earn that salvation!  But once we have accepted Christ, we must CHOOSE to LIVE for HIM daily!  It will be hard at times to keep from slipping back into old habits and sins that feel so familiar, so comfortable to us.  It's so easy to let our 'self' take over, demanding our way or the highway!  But we MUST allow our new nature - HIS NATURE to permeate to the core of our being.  That can only happen by crucifying ourselves and CHOOSING to become a slave of God!  Only then will we overcome sinful habits that threaten to derail our spiritual freedom!

The good news is that we serve a God of infinite chances.  So when we do mess up, we can repent and seek forgiveness.  That is the point I'm at in my spiritual journey - removing my sinful, weak self once again from the spotlight and enslaving myself wholeheartedlly to Christ.  Lord help me to obey!

So long self - I've been delivered for good!
 Grace and peace, friends!
In His Love, Cathy