Two Choices

Romans 6:14-20

What would you do if you had only two choices with every decision? Can you imagine in this day and age what that would be like? How would you feel if when you went to the grocery store there was only two kinds of chips and not a whole isle? Or what would it be like to buy a car where your only choice was a stripped down version of a plain black car or a plain white one?

We like to have multiple choices because it makes us feel like we are in control. We can decide what flavor or brand or crinkle we want in our chip. We can decide what color or size engine or package of options we get with our car. We decide… therefore, we control.

Paul gives us a different perspective on decision making in Romans.

¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.      NLT

Paul is so black and white about things. We like it better when our choices have some gray area to consider. Then we can be graded on a curve instead of exact percentages. We like essay answers where we can explain why we chose what we did, instead of true and false questions that leave no room for interpretation.

Then, just when we think we understand, Paul wrote this.

¹⁴ Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.    NLT

He just got done saying that you are a “slave to whatever you choose to obey” and now he’s talking about living “under the freedom of God’s grace”. Confusing right?

Maybe the lesson for us to learn is the next time we are facing a decision, we need to look at it like Paul did. We have two choices. The one that leads to death; or the one that leads to life? Which one do you want to choose?

Well… when you put it that way, it doesn’t seem like much of a choice.