Choices

My youngest brother, Jerry, has taught me that life is about choices. And those choices have consequences, some are good and some are bad depending on our choice. This lesson came to mind as I was reading Romans 7:4-6.
4So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
It's about whether I choose, as a Christian, to live for God or to live for my old self. I've been released to serve and bear fruit for the living, life-raising God and not my sinful desires. Just as God has released me from my marriage to Karen, through her death, and He has given me the freedom to marry Cindy, I have been released from my old nature, my old way of doing things, and my old way of serving and free to live the life God wants me to live. It's a choice! I can drag the dead body of my old nature around or chunk that puppy and live in the freedom of my salvation through Jesus!

I choose! ME! It's not up to my sinful nature - though it's always trying to dissuade me from living for God. It's not the law or a bunch of rules - they just point out my sinful nature. And it's not up to Cindy, my friends, or my family. It up to ME! And just as I can say "'yes" or "no" to my sinful nature, I can say "yes" or "no" to living for God and bearing fruit.

@MarkBatterson tweeted the following this morning. . .
every time you say "yes" to something you are saying "no" to something else. every "yes" is a "no" and every "no" is a "yes."
I like that. It makes sense to me. This applies to every part of my life, but it especially applies to my walk with God. Saying "yes" to God, means saying "no" to my sinful nature and vice-versa.

Who are you choosing to bear fruit for today - sinful nature that's already dead or God, that's alive and well? Who are you saying "yes" and "no" to today? If you're a Christian, the choice should be God, but it's also much easier said than done. But it still comes down to a choice.

Choosing life over death,
Mike

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