Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. — Romans 6:18
Have you ever had the experience of buying something from someone? I have had the experience many times in my life where I was the one buying an item that someone else was selling. It could be something as simple as a small household item or even a house or car.
Most of the time, the person is at the point where they are happy to part with the item. But occasionally, I have found that the person did not really want to sell the item, but had another reason they were selling it. Perhaps they were buying a big item, starting a family, or many other reasons. In each of those instances, the person giving up the item I bought had to come to the realization that they no longer owned the item and it belonged to someone else.
I think a lot of Christians struggle with this exact scenario in regards to their spiritual life. When they gave their lives to Christ, He paid their sin debt and as the Scripture says here in Romans they became “servants of righteousness.” They no longer have control over their life, they are learning to submit their lives to God, and sometimes it can be a challenge.
I have heard many share their testimony about how they simply walk away from the sins that gave them trouble. Others have shared how it was much more difficult. Our nature is that we want to continue to do the things that we desire. Our flesh wants to continue in the ways of sin, but our hearts want to serve God. Even after being saved, we continue to face temptations that try to pull our flesh back into sin.
Once we give our lives to God, we are no longer our own. We fully belong to Him and that means submitting everything to Him. Just like those sellers may want to hold on to those items occasionally, we must learn to let go and give everything to God. Once He paid our debt, we belong to Him.