This Speaks to Me

“This speaks to me!”; “I needed to hear this today!”; “This is so true” are claims typed via text or verbalized out loud in response to some meme or point in a Bible study. These are not bad things to claim and are very true for all of us as we read the truth from the Bible or on social media. Yet, the knowledge we acquire from studying or hearing the Word is not enough. It is not enough to be engaged in Bible study or to read devotions on social media and expect to look and live like Christ. We have access to as much truth as we want regarding the Word of God, but we struggle still with the transformation the Word promises.

In my own experience, I have been impacted by a truth taught at a women’s event or a point made in a sermon. I have taken notes to make it more personal with an intent to remember. And, in my own experience, I have found those same notes in later days, months, and years reminding me of my sameness. So is the saying, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” something we can believe? Can we know that the promises of God are true as they relate to our becoming more like Christ? Do we wonder why we still struggle with old habits and behaviors that bear no resemblance to Christ we read about in the Bible? There is a gap between our faith and our reality.

 Romans 6:5-7; 11-12 says, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin; Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”

Do we wonder why we still feel like a slave to some sinful behavior or thought? Something is missing, yet haven’t we have been given all we need for life and godliness in Christ Jesus?

My heartfelt answer is, “Absolutely. We have all we need for life and godliness!” The gap between our faith and street-level living is the obedience factor. In Romans 6, Paul speaks of the believer being dead to sin but alive to Christ. He says in Romans 6:11, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The Word to focus on here is the Word, CONSIDER, which MacArthur says “refers to having an absolute, unreserved confidence in what one’s mind knows to be true; the kind of heartfelt confidence that affects his actions and decisions.” This unreserved confidence in what the Word of God says about us as believers should impact our actions and decisions daily. We can SAY we believe that we are dead to sin but alive to Christ but still BEHAVE in ways that counteract this truth. So, Paul gives us the next step, obedience, in the following verses.

Romans 6:12-14 says, “Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but grace.” Do you see the act of faith Paul calls for in the life of the believer? It can seem very subtle, and we can miss it. If we have unreserved confidence in the Word, we can choose to act on that confidence. It is a decision of the will. We can act in obedience to the Word since we believe that what the Word tells us about ourselves is true.

How does this look in the life of a believer? It is seen in saying yes to forgiving someone who hurt them. In street-level Christianity, the believer who a spouse’s words may have hurt takes the tangible step of forgiving by speaking kindly to the spouse in return. A believer angry at another takes the tangible step of forgiveness until that anger is replaced by peace. The key is the first step of obedience which then opens the door to the power of the Spirit of God. This power is made available to us to act in the way we say we believe.

The path we take to live out the Word of God is obeying it. There is no other path. The great news is we can obey because we have the promise of power made available to us in Christ. We don’t obey because, deep down, we don’t want to, so we develop habitual patterns of disobedience. These patterns can become strongholds that are more difficult to break. Let this speak to us. Obedience is an open door to freedom. As we obey, we will never be the same.