Do you have something or someone ruling over you?
Something or someone telling you every move to make, questioning and judging your every decision?
That sounds like a horrible way to live and yet a lot of us live like this every day.
This brings us to the verse that prompted this writing. I usually read the NIV version of the bible but on this day my app that shows the verse of the day on my phone had reverted to the King James version. In the verse, one of the keywords that jumped out at me was dominion. That word just, for me, has weight. And that is probably the point. For someone or something to have dominion over you means they rule over you. They control you. They tell you what to do and when to do it. You are not your own. The NIV version translates the word into master. That word also invokes those same kinds of feelings. I think it's safe to say none of us wants to have a master that owns us or controls us.
The verse is in Romans chapter 6 and is verse 14. It says: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. The NIV does not really change to much other than to change dominion to master. And I think the reason is that it doesn't need to. This is a pretty clear verse.
In the time before Christ, sin ruled our lives. We could not get away from it or do anything without sin being involved in some way. But when Jesus came… everything changed.
Sin no longer has power over us. We became free in Christ and his grace now covers us and allows us to love and be loved. This makes us want to serve him and follow his commands, not because he forces us to but because we want to. Because of the grace and love and forgiveness he has freely given us.
Having the shackles of sin removed and the cover of grace and the freedom of forgiveness makes it so easy to press on and fight the good fight as a Soldier for Christ.