So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-13) This Apostle Paul draws a conclusion here based on the preceding passage, which begins with the declaration that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ and that we have been freed from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). That is quite a declaration of freedom. Now we have this conclusion that we are debtors. If we are free, what are we debtors to? At some time or other, most of us have gone into debt for a home, a vehicle, a business, etc. We have taken on this debt because of our choices, both good and bad choices. We are familiar with the impact debt can have on our lives and prospects for the future. The same is true spiritually; the choices we make have consequences. The freedom we have in Christ is not liberty to do whatever we want. Rather, in Christ we are free to serve something other than the lusts of our old, sinful nature. So, to what then are we debtors? But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6). We are debtors to Grace, to live a life of holiness, a life that is being conformed to His image and purpose. Paul would later amplify this point in Romans 12:1 when he wrote I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Paul is not offering an option here of the best way to follow Christ. This is a command for every believer to, by the power of the Spirit, crucify the deeds and lusts of the flesh and follow Him with our whole being. The hymn writer Robert Robinson captured this idea perfectly when he penned these words in “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let that grace now, like a fetter, Bind my yielded heart to Thee. In Christ you are free. How are you walking in that freedom? By Jesse Smith