ROMANS 6:12-14 – Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE PURPOSES OF SALVATION. Today’s scripture contains a promise – sin will have no dominion over you – and three commands; let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, do not present your members to sin, and present yourselves to God. And all of them point to one thing; a life of total consecration to the Lord in the pursuit of holiness.
When it comes to salvation, there are two purposes Christians must grasp. Before I identify them, let’s mention one thing salvation is not. It is not about us. Of course we are the recipients of salvation in Christ, but God never grants it to individuals to merely miss out on His wrath, to make life full of comfort, or to make much of those He saves. Remember what Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans – For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36). And “all things” include our salvation. So, what are the purposes of our salvation? Slowly read over this lengthy portion of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In the original language, it is one long sentence. Within it are the two purposes for God saving us. I have identified them for us with bold italics.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:3-14).
Friends, we are saved to be holy trophies of His grace. And that brings us to the application of today’s scripture. We are responsible to pursue the purposes of our salvation – holiness and displaying God’s amazing grace. The spiritual battle we face every day is not about peace, freedom from stress, and help to just get through life. It is the battle for holiness. We do our part, in the strength of grace, to present ourselves to God as His instruments of holiness. We defeat temptations not to give into the passions of our flesh. When we grasp what salvation is all about, then we will fight proper spiritual warfare pursuing the purposes of our salvation – holy trophies displaying the glorious grace of God.
PRAYER: “Father, may I gladly and completely give myself to You with a grateful and willing heart to obey You.”
QUOTE: “After all God gave us in His Son, His Spirit, and His Word, how could we not freely give all of ourselves to Him?”