February 28

Romans 7:2
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

Romans 7:4
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

Bound. Do you like to be bound? Of course not right? However the only way to get “unbound” is to die. That seems a little extreme though. Yet it is the only remedy for us. Unless we die to everything, we cannot live for God in everything.

Romans 7:13 (NIV)
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

This ties in with our dying. In fact death was produced in us by sin so dying shouldn’t be that big of deal right? It is all about the control isn’t it? The point Paul is making – that God is making - is that you are already dead because of sin. The law was to make sure that you understood that you were dead and are dying and that you can’t be good! So if you will die to your own effort to “live” or be good, then you can rest in the death of Jesus and be raised again with Him to the life that He wants to give you! But the resurrection only comes after the death. If we want all God has for us, we must die to ourselves, to the things that drag us down, from our own ability to attain what we think is righteousness. Giving up – surrendering – is the only way to have victory. Why stay in a losing battle, give up your life and get God’s life in return!