February 22: Slaves of Sin or Righteousness?
♫ Music:
Day 9 - Thursday, February 22
Title: SLAVES OF SIN OR RIGHTEOUSNESS?
Scripture: Romans 6:12-22 (NKJV)
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Poetry & Poet:
“Welcoming Angels”
by Pat Schneider
Between the last war
and the next one,
waiting for the northbound train
that travels by the river,
I sit alone in the middle of the night
and welcome angels.
Welcome back old hymns, old songs,
all the music, the rhyme and rhythm,
welcome angels, archangels,
welcome early guesses,
at the names of things,
welcome wings.
I have grown tired of disbelief.
What once was brave is boring.
Welcome back to my embrace stranger,
visitor beside the Jabbok.
Welcome wrestling until dawn,
until it is my hip thrown out of joint,
my pillow stone, my ladder
of antique assumptions.
Welcome what is not my own:
glory on top rung, coming down.
SLAVES OF SIN OR RIGHTEOUSNESS?
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Rom. 6:20 NKJV).
What a terrible thing, to be “free in regard to righteousness”! It’s like a starving person being “free in regard to food,” or a dying person being “free in regard to health.”
If I may use the double negative, there are some things you don’t want to have nothing to do with.
And righteousness is one of them.
Our passage today highlights something important: as human beings, we are going to serve something. We aren’t independent, and it’s in our nature to attach.
But what are you going to attach to? What are you going to serve?
What Paul shows us here is that in order to have something to do with righteousness, there are things we need to have nothing to do with.
We need to have nothing to do with envy. With drunkenness. With adultery. With fornication. With gluttony. With greed. With any sin whatsoever.
As Peter dryly pointed out elsewhere, the number of days and hours and years we have already spent in the service of sin “may suffice us” (1 Peter 4:3 KJV).
It’s an observation that seems to be severely understating the matter. But he’s right. All the time we’ve already spent sinning was quite enough.
We really don’t need any more time to wallow in the muck.
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“I’m no longer a slave to fear,” sings Zach Williams in today’s song. And isn’t that really the heart of it?
Why do we sin? Because we are afraid. We are afraid we won’t have enough, we won’t be fed, we won’t be seen, we won’t be loved, we won’t be known, we won’t be cared for.
We sin because we don’t trust that God will give us what we need. We don’t trust that he is good. This is, in the end, an impious pride of the worst sort.
So, we snatch. We try to get what we need for ourselves. We try to take what we know will make us feel good, feel okay, not feel terrified—just for the next second, please. Just for the next moment. Just for this hour, let me be okay.
And we wake up from our torpor afterwards, and find that the chains have wrapped around us heavier and tighter than ever, sinking over our hands, over our wrists, pressing against our skin.
We tried to make the world our slave, and we became its slave instead.
As Paul asks not much later in Romans, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
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“Welcome what is not my own,” writes poet Pat Schneider, “glory on the top rung, coming down.”
This is who will rescue us from slavery to sin: Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
He is righteousness and freedom, he is holy and good, and when you serve him, you will live.
Without him, we had no freedom from evil. We only had freedom from goodness.
There’s a terrifying verse in the Psalms that characterizes the Israelites in the wilderness as “not estranged from their lusts” (78:30 KJV).
The Lord is calling us to be estranged from our lusts.
Because he wants us to not be estranged from him.
When we are slaves to the Lord, instead of to sin, we are slaves to one who intends our life and not our death.
And we are slaves to one who will have us, in the end, attached to himself as his sons and as daughters.
We will be part of the family of God, and when we follow him, we will walk in the light of life.
Will we be free to sin? No. But will we be free to do whatever we want? Not at first. Because at first, we will still be tempted to sin, and that is something we are not permitted to do as followers of Christ.
But here is the thing: Jesus will change our wants. He will change our desires.
Eventually, yes, we will be free to do whatever we want.
Because, more and more, he will give us desires that are good—he will make us like himself.
He will make us good.
And, in the very end, when we see him face-to-face, what we desired is what we will have: goodness, life, holiness, righteousness.
And above all else, our good Lord himself, who has taken us for his very own.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Thanks be to God.
Prayer
O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
–––From The Book of Common Prayer
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Writer and Editor
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Art:
Midnight
John David Leigh II
1993
Black-and-white photograph
Bonaventure Cemetery
Savannah, Georgia
Photographer Jack Leigh’s black-and-white photograph depicts a grave monument in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, that features a bronze statue of a slender girl in a full-length dress, holding a pair of bowls in outstretched arms. Commonly known as the “Bird Girl,” the statue is one of four, originally cast in 1936 by American sculptor Sylvia Shaw Judson. Savannah’s “Bird Girl” was purchased by a local family, who named it “Little Wendy” and set it up at their family plot in the Bonaventure Cemetery. The sculpture sat in Bonaventure Cemetery for over half a century, virtually unnoticed, until Random House Publishing commissioned John David Leigh II to shoot the cover image of John Berendt’s new book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. After the book became a runaway bestseller, fans soon flocked to Bonaventure Cemetery to see the “Bird Girl” for themselves. Out of concern over possible vandalism or theft of the statue, the family removed “Little Wendy” from Bonaventure and donated her to the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah for public display.
https://bonaventurecemeterytours.com/so-where-is-the-bird-girl/
About the Artist:
John David Leigh II (1948–2004) was an American photographer and author, known for the cover photograph on John Berendt's novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Leigh was a native of Savannah, and a graduate of the University of Georgia. Already well-known locally as a portrait and documentary photographer, Leigh wrote and published five books on photography.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Leigh
About the Music:
“No Longer Slaves” from the album Live from Harding Prison
Lyrics:
I’m no longer a slave to fear.
I am a child of God. (2x)
You unravel me, with a melody.
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance, from my enemies
Until all my fears are gone.
I’m no longer a slave to fear.
I am a child of God. (2x).
From my mother’s womb
You have chosen me.
Love has called my name.
I’ve been born again, into a family.
Your blood flows through my veins.
I’m no longer a slave to fear.
I am a child of God. (4x)
I am surrounded
By the arms of the Father.
I am surrounded
By songs of deliverance.
We've been liberated
From our bondage.
We’re the sons and the daughters.
Let us sing our freedom.
You split the sea
So I could walk right through it.
My fears were drowned in perfect love
You rescued me.
And I will stand and sing.
I am the child of God.
You split the sea
So I could walk right through it.
My fears were drowned in perfect love.
You rescued me.
And I will stand and sing.
I am a child of God. (3x)
I’m no longer a slave to fear.
I am a child of God. (2x)
About the Composers:
Joel D. Case, Brian Mark Johnson, and Jonathan David Helser
Joel Case lives with his family in Sophia, North Carolina. He manages the Cageless Birds Music Studio—producing, engineering, and performing on projects, and managing a podcast—as well as being one of the main worship leaders in his community. Case is passionate about intimacy with God, songwriting, and worship, and currently has completed two full-length albums, Blow Over Me and Found in Love. His latest worship song, “River of Love,” appears on We Rise, We Bow. Joel enjoys leading young adults and imparting his passion for sound and the presence of God through leading worship and teaching music to students.
https://www.cagelessbirds.com/joel-case
Brian Mark Johnson (b. 1978) is an American contemporary worship musician and worship pastor. He is the president and cofounder of Bethel Music, as well as a member of its Artist Collective, and is one half of the husband-and-wife worship duo Brian & Jenn Johnson. He is also a senior worship pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. As a solo musician, Johnson has released one album, Love Came Down - Live Acoustic Worship in the Studio (2010). As a founding member of Bethel Music, Johnson has been featured on most Bethel Music releases. As a songwriter, Johnson has cowritten CCLI Top 100 Chart–ranking songs such as "Love Came Down," "No Longer Slaves," "Forever," and "One Thing Remains.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Johnson_(Bethel_Music_singer)
Jonathan David and Melissa Helser are lovers of God and believers in the gift of family. Jonathan, Melissa, and their children live in the woods of Sophia, North Carolina. As a family, the Helsers have said yes to the gospel and to spreading the love of Jesus to the world. They love traveling together—drinking in beauty, sharing the goodness of God, and building friendships abroad. Oftentimes, when Jonathan and Melissa travel to lead worship, their children accompany them.
https://www.cagelessbirds.com/jonathan-melissa
About the Performer:
Zachary Williams is an American Christian rock musician. From 2007 through 2012, he was a member and lead vocalist of Zach Williams and the Reformation. Williams’ powerful and poignant journey shows how a boy with a storybook childhood and wonderfully nurturing parents, and a strong and supportive grounding in the church and community, was seduced away by the illusion of rock-and-roll stardom and the drug/alcohol excesses that often accompany that lifestyle. After Zach Williams and the Reformation disbanded, Williams and guitarist Robby Rigsbee dedicated their lives to Christ and began playing music in their church. The church band became Zach Williams and the Brothers of Grace. In 2016, Williams went solo, becoming one of CCM’s leading artists and songwriters by carving a niche with his singular blend of Southern rock, country, and faith-filled songwriting, which earned him a Grammy Award with his debut album, 2017’s Chain Breaker. Williams released his second album, Rescue Story, which includes the single "There Was Jesus" with Dolly Parton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Williams_(musician)
https://www.zachwilliamsmusic.com/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Pat Schneider (1934–2020) was an American writer, poet, writing teacher, and editor. She was educated at Central Methodist College in Missouri and earned her M.A. from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. In 1979 she became a graduate of the M.F.A. Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was the founder/director of Amherst Writers & Artists and editor of Amherst Writers & Artists Press, which has published forty-two books of poetry and the national literary journal Peregrine. Schneider published five books of poetry: Another River: New and Selected Poems (2005), The Patience of Ordinary Things (2003), Olive Street Transfer (1999), Long Way Home (1993), and White River Junction (1987). She also wrote plays and her libretti have been recorded by the Louisville Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Schneider
About the Devotion Writer:
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Writer and Editor
Jessica Snell is a writer whose work has appeared in Compelling Science Fiction, Tor.com, Christ and Pop Culture, Focus on the Family, and more. She is also a freelance editor who loves helping other writers polish their books till they shine! In her free time, she reads, knits, and spends time with her husband and their four children. You can follow her on Twitter at @theJessicaSnell, where she tweets about books, faith, and family. Her website is jessicasnell.com.