‘But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:17-18)
There are some things that come across as enablers of freedom but conversely turn out to be things that would later hold us in bondage. For example, some prescriptive medication if abused can lead to dependence or addiction. No one works better to enslave through this art of deception more than Satan.
He knows that humans yearn for freedom and were created by God to freely make decisions for themselves but not without consequences.
God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to choose the path of life but warned them about the consequence of wrong choices and their consequences which is mortality. (Genesis 2:17.)
Satan’s singular purpose therefore in the Garden of Eden was to go after man’s freedom and to use the same freedom to put him in bondage and open rebellion against God.
This is an art of deception which led man to sin leading to the loss of his very God-given freedom and pitching him in enmity against God.
Now Adam and Eve’s misuse of their freedom was choosing their own path over God’s path which a lot of people continue to do till today.
Eve was tempted by the devil and gave in and ate the forbidden fruit then offered Adam a bite and he too gave in. Through this action, they became slaves of unrighteousness preferring their own path over God’s path of life.
Unknown to them, they traded away life for death and freedom for slavery.
No wonder, Jesus referred to the devil as a thief and a murderer from the beginning of creation due to his artful deception in the garden of Eden:
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him….” (John 8:44).
The devil continues his artful campaign of deception to this day injecting liberal thoughts and philosophies into the hearts of men whose inclination is a continual rebellion against God through all sorts of ungodly passions.
What many do not know is that no man is born free after Adam lost his freedom to Satan.
Man has been sold to sin and in bondage to slavery, he has lost his God-given freedom through the satanic transaction that occurred in the Garden of Eden and therefore unable to naturally obey God. (Romans 6: 16.)
The solution to breaking the grip of sin is to understand that true freedom can only be found in God and what seems like the freedom to man outside of God is an illusion of lies and perdition.
We must bear in mind that our choice to live in disobedience comes with weighty consequences because sin is a sinking swamp: the more we desire our own freedom away from God, the more we become slaves to sin.
There is no middle ground, it’s either we become slaves of righteousness by obeying Jesus or we become slaves of unrighteousness by continuing to obey Satan. (Rom 6:17-18.)
To buy Man’s freedom back, Jesus Christ came to redeem him from slavery to the devil, from the power of sin and death through his death on the cross.
The Bible says through a simple art of believing that Christ came to die for our sins and acknowledging Him as Lord and Master of our lives, we will be ransomed from the power of the devil, sin, and death and given a new life of freedom to serve God in obedience and truth. (Colossians 1:13-14.)
Nowhere is Jesus’ death for our freedom more clearly expressed than in the Book of Revelation (Chapter 5:9-) “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood, you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation’.
Beloved, will you continue to misuse your freedom in open rebellion against God knowing the consequences of damnation or will you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus asking Him to save you from the bondage to sin and Satan?
The choice is yours, now!
Reading
Roman Chapter 6
