I'm reading from Paul this morning out of Romans. He says, Therefore, I urge you, Brothers, in view of God's Mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
The free gift is sometimes confused, I think, by people. We are freed from sin. Before being freed from sin, we were slaves to it. Only those who stay in sin think it's actually better somehow. I don't blame them for thinking that way. I was there for 38 years. But it's simply not better ... not even close. It's empty. The only full life is a life sacrificed to him.
We don't stop being a slave.
We simply change Slave Masters.
Here's the rub: We don't stop being a Slave. We simply change slave masters when we accept the free gift. No more a slave to sin, in exchange for being a Slave for God. So much better. But that means repentance (turning away from all sin and trying our best not to stumble), renewing of our heart, with our eyes on eternity, not the pleasures of this world, etc.
The free gift means, you have God's grace and mercy, and you have been washed clean and perfect, which means you now have the right to be called a child of God and spend eternity with him in his glory with his blessings and his Joy, versus the opposite.
Once you actually begin your life of obedience, dropping your idea that worldly stuff is better somehow, you'll then come to the realization but it is far better to live God's way, obeying him because we realize he knows better, even if we don't get it. Until then, you'll be under the delusion that the things of this world could somehow be better.
This too takes the leap of faith.
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