Whom do you serve?

In my Homage to Freedom yesterday I wrote about the freedom from sin and temptation. As much as we are thankful for the freedom we celebrated yesterday in the Unites States, we should thank God for the freedom He has granted us, but with freedom comes choices.

The greatest choice we make is to join ourselves to Jesus Christ as King and as God. These are the words of our baptism, even if our godparents speak them on our behalf. Whether we were baptized as infants or adults, the result is the same. We are joined to Christ as King.

As King, Jesus deserves our loyalty, service and obedience. A King, most especially our King, serves His people to protect and save them from the dangers that plague them. Jesus did that when He was born, crucified, died, was buried, resurrected and ascended to Heaven.

Now it is our turn to serve Him. In the reading from Saint Paul below, we hear the challenge of every Christian. We must choose to serve Christ or sin. It is a free choice, but one that affects our eternal situation. The wrong choice leads to death, even if it ‘feels good’ in the moment.

Brethren, you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

Romans 6.11-17

Throughout yesterday’s patriotic celebrations, those who served the United States in military and public service were honored as serving to protect us from danger. As an expression of gratitude, many veterans are given special treatment on such patriotic holidays.

God has done much more than any soldier or government bureaucrat. What are we doing to serve Him to show our gratitude? Some believe the greatest service to God is ‘to be a nice person’ but I have a different perspective. I believe we serve God by avoiding sin.

Being ‘a nice person’ is defined differently by different people and different eras of history. Christianity is more than a moral code. Christianity is a life dedicated to God, avoiding sin, and loving others as God loves them. One can ‘be nice’ to others and not be Christian.

On the other hand, avoiding sin and living a life dedicated to God necessarily means we will treat others with respect and dignity. Loving them as God loves them means giving them ‘space’ to express their free will choices, even if those choices are not what we would choose for them.

Saint Paul also says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Galatians 6.1) We cannot help others avoid sin until we conquer it first in our own lives.

Therein lies today’s challenge. Look in the mirror and acknowledge the sin you have been ignoring for too long. Today can be the day you choose to serve Christ by fighting that sin in your heart. Then, once you have made progress, feel free to teach others.