Who do You Surrender Your Freedom To?

Romans 6:16

　
　
The Statue of Liberty was reassembled in the New York Harbor in 1886 after being built in France. It was supposed to have been completed in time for the centennial of America in 1876. For millions of immigrants heading to Ellis Island, the Statue was the symbol of freedom as they arrived in the United States. "Land of the brave and home of the free".

Freedom is a funny thing. You have to be careful what you wish for. If not coupled with self-discipline, a sense of responsibility and high moral values, freedom can lead to anarchy, narcissism and self-indulgence. Freedom can lead to addiction.

The most insidious lie of addiction is that it brings you freedom. The euphoria that comes from that first "hit" is overwhelming. It feels like nothing else can bring such satisfaction, such pleasure and such freedom. But you soon discover that freedom is an illusion because you are not free at all. The addiction has taken over your will and your life and in fact you are now a slave to your addiction.

In Romans 6 Paul poses a rhetorical question: "Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" I like how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message:

"So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!"

Sin is an addiction. None of us can stop sinning. We are addicted to it. If we are honest with ourselves, we want to do what we want when we want. Jesus calls us to a radical change; one that means surrendering our will to his. We give up the right to do what WE want. We give up the right to our natural inclination. We give up the right to our freedom.

That’s not a popular message but it has a great payoff. Paul wrote, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness". A few verses later he wrote, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life". Moses in Deuteronomy told the Israelites "Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him".

Surrender your freedom to God and He will give you righteousness, holiness, eternal life, His love and a personal intimate relationship with the God of creation. Who do you choose to surrender to?
　
　http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%206%3A15-18&version=NIV;MSG
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Rom.6.15-Rom.6.18