You have to serve Somebody

DEVOTION

ROMANS

YOU HAVE TO SERVE SOMEBODY

Rom 6:15-18

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don'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? 17 But 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. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

NIV

Although we cannot be sure if Bob Dylan is still or was every truly a believer when he wrote that song which included the words, “But you’re gonna have to serve body, yes indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody, Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”, the words ring true to the words spoken here by Paul. We were once slaves to sin, but now are slaves to righteousness. We are gonna serve somebody. Once we did serve ourselves which is in fact serving the devil, living with no regard for God or his authority. But when we made the choice to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we gave up serving self and began a life of serving God. What changed? Did we actually change our life? Maybe we gave up a few things. Maybe we didn’t. But was there any change in our personality? We are still the same basic person we have always been. All our memories are intact, but there are some things which have changed. Maybe it is just the way we think about things. Do we really think any differently than before becoming a believer? Just the word, believer, is one change. Before we did not believe and now we do. What changed? Paul uses the word, wholeheartedly, to describe the change. Is it really our heart or our mind that have changed? Do we still pursue some of the same things we did before becoming a believer? Do we still want fame and fortune? Well, maybe not the fame, but surely many believes still want the fortune. Are we like that too? Some believers seem to still pursue fame. What is the motivation of our life? Are we really serving the Lord? How are we serving him? Is it just a Sunday morning thing with the rest of the week serving our own interests? God tells us we cannot serve two masters. He makes the difference between him and money, but it might also be between him and self. How do we serve him Monday through Saturday? How do we serve righteousness every day? What does obedience to God look like each day of the week? Is it just because we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior, or is there something else which defines serving righteousness? Does it mean we make a list of things we should not do, and a list of things we should do? Do we have a checklist? Is that what it is all about, lists? Lists of things we have given up, lists of things we still need to give up, lists of things we are doing, lists of things we still need to do. Maybe just saying we love the Lord with all our heart, all our mind, all our spirit and all our strength is enough. But we also have to love our neighbor. What does that look like? What does a slave to righteousness look like? It has to be our mindset, our heart set. What we are on the inside is who we are on the outside, at least it should be. If we accept the grace of God, then we accept his influence on our lives and how that is reflected in the way we live every day of the week. All our choices, all our goals and ambitions should be centered in what God wants to do in our life. Yes, we have to work and pay the bills. Yes, we have to do the mundane things of life. But do we truly consider God in our choices, in the things we do? We are going to have to serve somebody, but who are we serving is the question.