The Christian life can often feel like a never-ending struggle against sin. We try our best, we put up a good fight, but we always seem to fall short. We eventually grow weary in the battle, exhausted by our own efforts. But what if there was a different path – one of victory instead of defeat? Romans 6 reveals a secret that can release us from sin’s power.
Through union with Christ, his triumph over sin becomes our reality. When we see ourselves as God sees us, free from sin’s dominion, we can finally live as we were meant to.
- Everyone is a servant to something. We are never truly free and autonomous. We are always serving or worshipping something, whether that’s sin or righteousness.
- We are natural servants to sin. We are born into this world under the reign and power of sin. Apart from Christ, we have no option but to be subject to sin.
- In Christ, we have been freed from sin. Through union with Christ by faith, we now share in everything that is true of Jesus. His victory over sin is now our victory. We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
- We manifest the life of Christ, not manufacture the Christian life. It is not by trying harder but by seeing better – seeing who we truly are in Christ. When we obey God, we are acting in accord with our true identity.
When we finally see ourselves as we truly are in Christ – dead to sin but alive to God – we can stop manufacturing the Christian life through sheer willpower. Instead, we can simply manifest the life of Christ that is already within us. Sin no longer defines our identities; righteousness does.
So stop struggling in your own strength and see yourself as God sees you – free indeed! Appropriate this reality into your life. Obey God from a place of victory, not defeat. You have been freed from sin’s dominion so that you can now live fully for righteousness. No longer a slave, but a beloved child of God. This is your true identity – live in the freedom Christ has won for you.