Romans 7:1-6

Be Still: Father help me as I read your Word. By your Spirit, I want to become more like Jesus today. Amen. 

Read: Romans 7:1-6

'But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.' (v6)

Encounter: Have you ever experienced that childlike impulse of 'I wonder what that big red button does?' having been told, 'do not push that big red button'? That impulse or temptation to do what we shouldn't, is what St Paul calls our sinful passions, awakened by the law at work within us. Becoming a Christian marks a transformative change in who we belong to and what impulses we are driven by. 

Paul uses the analogy of legal marriage in this earthly life to imagine the marked difference. If you are married, but your spouse dies, you are no longer legally bound to that person. Paul says that this is a picture of being released from the law. By dying to what once bound you, you now belong to another - to Christ - and that means you are driven in a new way. We are no longer controlled by the impulses of the flesh (like the urge to push the big red button) but live to serve in the new way of the Spirit. Jesus has fulfilled the law and now by grace, he has set us free and filled us with his Spirit to do God's will. 

Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh today. Call to mind the situations and tasks of your day and remember that the driving force of your life is God’s Holy Spirit working within you. You are not bound by unachievable rules but driven by your relationship to Christ. Become aware of the gift of his presence with you and go out to serve in the new way of the Spirit today. This is the way you bear fruit for God. 

Devote: Thank you, God, for your grace and thank you for the gift of your Spirit in me, that I might bear fruit for you, In Jesus' name.