Devotion #2: Desired Obligation
Have you ever found yourself in the gift-giving obligation trap - someone buys you a birthday gift, and then you feel “obligated” to buy them one, too? Most of the time, that feeling or sense of obligation is a response to something we have been given. When you borrow money, you have a legal obligation to repay the loan you were given. If you have received the privilege of a driver’s license, you have an obligation to obey traffic rules and regulations. If you are blessed to be a citizen of the USA, you have an obligation to pay taxes to the government. The Oxford Dictionary defines an obligation as “an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a debt of gratitude for a service or favor.”
In Romans chapter 8, we have been reading some important truths about what it means to live according to the Spirit. Those who are in Christ no longer stand condemned; the Spirit sets us free and dwells in us! In fact, verse 11 says, “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.”
Romans 8:11-14 (NIV) says, “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation - but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”
As followers of Jesus, we have been given the Spirit of God, Who “dwells in” us! So, because of that fact, we have an obligation. We have a “debt of gratitude” to live by the Spirit, not living to serve my flesh, my “self.” Pay close attention to verse 14, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” We ought to respond to the truth that the Spirit lives in us with a sense of obligation to walk in the Spirit because of Christ’s sacrifice at the cross. When we allow our lives to be “led by the Spirit,” we are called God’s children. John 1:12 says it this way, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
So, then, what does it look like to be led by the Spirit? Take a look at 1 John 3:9-10, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” Are you keeping a practice (habit) of sinning? Are you choosing to disregard God’s righteousness? Or are you seeking to allow the Holy Spirit to develop these things in you, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
When we call on the name of Jesus and truly surrender to Him, our heart’s desire to follow Him will not be simply an obligation; we will want to be led by Him. The more we allow these truths to sink in that we have been saved from eternal death and that Jesus alone gives everlasting life, the more we will desire to surrender our will to be led by His Spirit because we are His children.