Remember Whose You Are

Remember Whose You Are

Some of you grew up under a heavy burden of religious rules. And when you discovered God’s grace, you experienced tremendous relief: “I don’t have to earn His love.”

Grace means that God gives us what we could never earn: forgiveness, acceptance, and life with Him. Our sins are many, but God’s grace is greater. No part of our sinful past is beyond His forgiveness.

Another thought can quickly follow: “Then it doesn’t matter how I live.”

Paul knows that question is coming. He’s just made an astounding statement in Romans 6:14: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” So he tackles the misunderstanding head-on: “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (v. 15).

Follow the logic Paul lays out. If you present yourself to someone as an obedient slave, you are a slave of the one you obey. His question is simple: Whom are you serving?

When you became a Christian, you entered a new relationship. Sin was no longer your master, and you were freed to serve God. You belong to Jesus Christ. Sin still tempts you, and you will still struggle, but it no longer has the right to rule your life. Through God’s grace, you can resist it and obey Him.

Why would you return to the old master?

Consider what sin does. It deceives us, making what is destructive appear desirable. It disorders our desires until we begin to love and pursue the wrong things. It corrupts our thoughts, motives, words, and actions. Over time, it hardens us. What once troubled our conscience becomes easier to accept.

One compromise leads to another. What we willingly indulge increasingly controls our habits and choices. Its effects spread outward, damaging relationships and bringing harm to others. What once attracted us becomes something we regret.

And beneath it all lies our guilt before God. Beyond our feelings stands our accountability to Him for the choices we’ve made. Sin ends in death.

Paul looks at these believers he loves and asks, in effect, “Why would you think that grace frees you to return to that which kills you?”

Belonging to Christ gives us a new desire and power to obey Him. Obedience bears the good fruit of holiness, a clear conscience, and deeper fellowship with God, even when following Him is costly.

Where does that desire come from? Look at the beginning of verse 17: “But thanks be to God.” He is the One who changes the heart. What God has done for us gives us a new desire to obey Him. We pursue obedience as an act of worshipful gratitude for His grace.

Paul says these believers became obedient from the heart “to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.” Notice that wording. They were committed to the teaching. God’s Word has authority over their lives.

Do you want to know how to live? Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read the end of Romans. Read Ephesians and Colossians. Study it, meditate on it, and commit yourself, with the Spirit’s help, to walk in it.

Then take the parts of your body—your eyes, your ears, your feet—and present them to God for righteousness. Your tongue can build others up and give grace to those who hear. Your hands can work so you have something to share with someone in need.

As you walk in obedience, God continues to shape your desires, habits, and character. This is what growing in holiness looks like.

And where does this life lead? Paul tells us in verse 23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Eternal life is His gift. You receive it through faith in Jesus Christ. The God who saves His people also preserves them in faith. Our confidence rests in His keeping power.

Now bring that into your next decision.

There will be a temptation to entertain. A resentment to feed. A truth to conceal. There will be a moment when the old way seems easier, more satisfying, more natural.

In that moment, remember whose you are. You belong to Jesus Christ. He died and rose again to bring you into new life. So offer Him your hands, your words, your thoughts, your next decision.

The old master may still call. But he no longer owns you. When he calls, remember whose you are, and obey the One who set you free.