But God Be Thanked

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17).

In the past we were all servants of sin. Without God (and usually unaware of it) our lives were steered by self serving needs and lusts. The doctrine and designs of those without God are rooted in gratification. It is carnality at its most primitive level, curbing appetites only to stay within civil law and some self established moral standard. Striving to be independent and self-sufficient, not realizing we were nothing more than servants of sin.

“but ye have obeyed from the heart”. This is the difference between two people. Both do the same thing. Both go to church, tithe, read the Bible and help other people the best they can. One person does it out of obligation, from a code of justice and principle, some cosmic scale of weights and balances. This person believes that if they do enough good things and enough righteous things then the scales will tip in their favor and will gain entrance into heaven. Their deeds have a purpose and it is to secure their place in the kingdom of God. This is a stressed out person because they will never know exactly how much good is good enough to get into heaven. How much good is required to tip the scales? And human nature being what it is, if there was a certain amount of good to counter balance the bad, then the minimum amount of good would be done to get into heaven. After all, why keep exerting the effort to do good if you don’t have to, right?

The other person is obedient to God from the heart, their very spirit. They do because they want to do for God. Their reward is the expression of love and compassion for his fellow man and in pleasing God the Father.

Obedience is not a matter of will or calculation. It is a natural outflow from our being. This all comes about when the Spirit of God quickens our spirit. We become aware of the Holy Ghost and the love that God has for us. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This love generates our desire to do for God and for His creation. We understand that, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

The Holy Ghost is the gift from God as a result of Christ and the price he paid on the cross. To be filled with the spirit of Christ is to know that He paid the ultimate price for all of our sins. Christ did it, it is done. We just have to accept him as our Savior.

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

The children of God have the spirit of Christ in them. They responded to the spirit when it quickened them. It is this spirit that, “beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

To receive the Holy Ghost, the spirit of Jesus Christ, of truth and of comfort is a simple matter of asking. If we believe in Jesus Christ and ask him and his spirit into our heart and mean it with all of our heart, mind, body and soul then he will enter.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Won’t you ask Christ and His spirit into your heart?

Bill Hitchcock
013115