Romans 6:22 “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.”
This past Easter,
the HBF fellowship had an awesome retreat at Phantom Ranch. We had five
messengers who were all graduating seniors: Amanda Melzer, Faith Koh, Jonathan
Lee, Marlene Lenthang, and Joe Horvath. We also had group bible studies led by
the juniors, Joseph Wang, Angelo Mendoza, Jonathan Cho, and myself. I was so
blessed to have time at the conference to have time to focus and reflect on the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I had the
opportunity to lead a bible study on Romans 6. In this passage, Paul tells the
Romans that they have been set free from sin. We are all released from our
human nature as sinners when we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and given a new
life in Jesus. When we die to our sins, we repent and turn our hearts back to
God. It is not enough just to turn away from our sin. We need to clean our hearts
and then fill it with God’s grace, which is his forgiveness, mercy, and love
for us. Only then will we be able to become slaves to God. We are all born
slaves to sin and doomed to an inevitable death because of our sin, but we are
all so lucky to know God’s unconditional love. Because of his love for us, he
sent his son to die a death that none of us would ever want. By his grace we
can call ourselves God’s children and have the freedom of eternal life.
I personally know
how hard it is to turn away from sin in our everyday life. The devil is smart
and he targets us during our weakest times. Christians face spiritual warfare
everyday. I have been struggling with my faith for a long time and I took
advantage of that and I told myself that it was ok to explore life more now
that I am still young, and high schoolers are supposed to have fun. I have done
some things that I am not proud of, but I learn that all sin is bad no matter
what excuse I might make for myself. Jesus had to die an excruciation death on
the cross for those sins I committed. Spiritual warfare is a constant and
difficult battle, but God always there beside me and he wants to set me free
from all of the burdens and veils of darkness that cloud my life and give me
freedom as a slave to righteousness. I need to constantly fight against the
temptations of sin and bring all of my struggles to God so that I can die to my
sins and be made alive in Christ as a slave to righteousness.
One word: Made alive in Christ as a
Slave to Righteousness
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