Honor Him
Pause:
Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus.
Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.
Read: Romans 6:8-11:
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Going Deeper:
I remember my freshman year of college well. I moved down to San Diego, settled into a campus dormitory, and met a bunch of new people. It was pretty exciting at first and I found that I had a relentless energy to connect and find my place. I’d hop into a car and go wherever people wanted to go, whenever.
On the outside, I operated as a “social butterfly” as my then roommate called me and I had fun. However, on the inside I felt low-level anxiety, a fear of being left out, and an inability to say “no.” My grades were terrifying but I wasn’t all that concerned with what my professors, parents, or future job recruiters thought. I cared about carving out my place in my social sphere and maintaining it. I wanted love and respect from certain people more than I wanted anything else.
I wouldn’t have said this then, but in hindsight I was enslaved to sin. I gave my time, attention, and loyalty to whoever promised to make me feel seen, heard, and valued. I tore into people that made me feel unvalued, usually passive aggressively. I sacrificed much as I made “gods” out of people and did what pleased them. I was largely unaware of the pedestal I put people on until I heard about Jesus and began to see things more clearly.
Some guys on my floor started talking about Jesus and held a bible study. I was drawn to Him, but I was also scared of what openly following Jesus would cost me. How would my relationships be impacted? Would I still be welcome in my friends' circle? Would I lose my girlfriend? Would I lose the respect of my peers? Would I fit into church culture? Did I want to fit into church culture?
I grappled with these sorts of questions on-and-off for five years. During that time I would hang with church people, but then pull way back when it became clear following Jesus jeopardized parts of my life I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice. I started to realize that I served another master. It was sad and confusing, yet I saw no way out.
But God, because of His great love, never gave up on me. In time, His love conquered my wayward heart. I finally saw Jesus for who He was and He broke the power the “gods” had over me through His death on the cross. Sin was no longer my master; Jesus rescued me and is now my King.
Twelve years later, I’ve come to realize that part of why I need to “consider” myself dead to sin is that sin is like a former landlord who is now a squatter. Sin likes to linger even though it’s not welcome, has no real authority, and knows it’s running out of time. Jesus will evict it soon.
In the meantime, we feel tempted to give sin influence over us out of old habit, custom, or familiarity. The fear of man I was enslaved to still likes to hang on. I know because I still have moments where I allow what someone might think or say about me to control me. I can say, do, or avoid things out of a desire to secure someone’s love rather than actually loving them. I can be self-focused and self-serving. Sin hangs on.
Yet, there’s great news in today’s passage. Jesus is alive and reigning. We get to live as though sin is no longer running the show because it isn’t, even if it’s hanging on.
I saw something similar at play in the movie “Gladiator.” In it, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius selects Russell Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus as his successor and tasks him with returning Rome to a republic. The Emperor’s son Lucius kills his own father to seize the throne and tries to kill Maximus, who ends up as a slave forced to fight as a gladiator. Though Maximus faced the loss of his family and freedom, as well as threats and oppression from pseudo Emperor Lucius, nothing took his eyes off fulfilling the true Emperor’s wishes. Maximus didn’t allow the desire for power, control, or love from the crowds to rule over and ruin him, as Lucius did. Maximus completed his mission and honored his beloved master. We are called to a similar life as disciples.
What might it look like for you to consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus during COVID-19? What fear, worry, form of escapism, anger, denial, preoccupation, despair, or other struggle might Jesus want to free you from today? How might we honor Him as King this week?
Pray:
Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.
Listen:
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?
Apply:
What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?