Have you ever noticed how the shepherd takes care of His sheep. The relationship between the shepherd and the sheep are very special. I watched a shepherd leading his sheep in my young days. If a sheep going in the front row jumps, all the sheep in the column also jumps at exactly the same spot. At the end of the day, the shepherd gives a unique sound. All the sheep come running around the shepherd and gathers. In the evening shepherd carefully counts his sheep and puts them behind the fence. Domesticated sheep ought to be protected as they are harmless creatures. The protection of the sheep is ensured as long as they stay under the care of the shepherd’s protection.
Like the shepherd takes care of the sheep and protects them from all harm, Jesus not only redeemed us from the slavery of sins, He also broke the power of sin so that the sin no longer master us. For the sheep to be protected it has to stay under the care of the shepherd. Similarly, we ought to stay understand the care of our master, Jesus Christ to be protected and guarded against temptations.
Impact of Jesus’s death and resurrection In our Life
When receiving forgiveness from Jesus we go through an important decision call repentance. Jesus paid a heavy price for forgiving our past mistakes. As Jesus died and buried for our past, so we make a conscious decision to put to death all our past mistakes and die to our past life. We raise up as a new forgiven child of God, as Jesus raised from death. As we read through this chapter, we will clearly notice what Jesus has already done for us and what we have to do to hold on to the forgiveness we have received from Him.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. v6 NLT
Who is our Master?
Jesus has already won the victory over the power of sin and eternal death. But it’s our responsibility to make sure we do not allow sin to come back and control our life. The only way we can do that is by choosing the right master in all parts of our life. As we have seen earlier, the sheep is well protected and can live securely as long as it obeyed its shepherd. Similarly, we can have victory over sin as long as we chose Jesus as our master in all parts of our life and chose to obey him.
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. v16 NLT
The secret to Guarding our Righteousness
Jesus paid for all our past mistakes. We received forgiveness and made right with God. But we have a responsibility to hold on to our status of righteousness by accepting Jesus as our master and obeying Him all through our life. Jesus does not intervene with the free will of humanity. Even though Jesus has done everything for us we need to make a constant choice to make Him as our master in every decision of our life.
Now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. v22 NLT
Dear friend, are you ready to make Jesus your master? He has done so much to save us from the slavery of sins by going through a cruel death on the cross. Though He is God, he carried all our mistakes on Himself and became a sinner for our sake. He is alive today and willing to be our excellent master. Are we ready to accept Him as our master? Let’s pray to Jesus.
Dear Jesus, I learned today what you have done for me and what is my responsibility. Help me to follow you with all the diligence. Be my master. You have saved me from the slavery of sin and help me to come out of eternal death. I would be happy to be your slave for the rest of my life. Please hold my hands and lead me. Continue to protect my life. Lead me towards eternal life. In Jesus’s name, I pray.