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Verse:Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? —Romans 6:16, KJV
On April 9, 1865, the Civil War effectively ended when General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House, twenty miles east of Lynchburg, Virginia.* Perhaps the most famous surrender ceremony in history was the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945. It took place in Tokyo Bay on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri. Representatives from Japan and the Allied nations signed a formal document of surrender, and World War II was over.† There is a war that rages in every human heart, and it continues to rage until surrender is made. According to Paul, every person is the servant of one of two powers —sin or obedience. Serving sin leads to eternal death, but serving obedience leads to righteousness and everlasting life.
An individual gets to choose which master he or she wishes to serve. Paul stated a person is the servant of the one to whom he or she “yields,” or surrenders. There is no compulsion to serve Christ. We are free to choose to serve Him or not.
In entertaining the temptation of the serpent, Adam and Eve yielded to his suggestion and chose the path that leads to death.
Every person who ever chose the service of sin made a decision to surrender to sin. Choosing to surrender to Jesus brings about a very different outcome. Every time you are assailed by temptation, the Spirit of God calls you to yield to Jesus instead of sin. Temptation presents us with a choice.
When we yield our hearts to Jesus, He fills us with His presence and leads us in His way. If we choose not to yield to Jesus, another power takes possession of our lives. To surrender to Jesus is to choose everlasting life.