Rom.6:22 – But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

This scripture causes me to think back to Rom.3:23 – “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Man’s sin is his pursuit of pleasure in the creation while ignoring the beauty and pleasure found in the Creator. We are freed from our slavery to the pleasures of sin and trapped (in a good way) to the pleasure found in the glory of God, that is the message of this verse. Being enslaved to God is actually liberation, liberation from the shackles of the sinful pleasures of this life and brought into the pleasures evermore found in the love of Jesus Christ. Here is how Sam Storms describes the beauty of sanctification.

“The problem on planet Earth is not that people hedonistically pursue pleasure. The problem is that they rebelliously and foolishly refuse to find it in the one place where it may be genuinely and eternally found—in God’s presence – Ps.16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; inYour presence is fullness of joy in Your right hand there are pleasures forever..” Do you hear God speaking in this verse, issuing each of us an incredible invitation? The psalmist is telling us that the enjoyment of God is the supreme pleasure for which we were created.

We were made to enjoy Him. Our minds were shaped and fashioned to think about God, to reflect and meditate on His majesty and beauty and to experience the intellectual thrill of theological discovery. Our emotions were made to feel His power “love, and longing for us. Our wills were made to choose His will and ways; our spirits were formed to experience the ecstasy of communion “with Him; our bodies were fashioned to be the temple where He Himself would delight to dwell!”

So maybe, if you are honest with yourself, you are still trapped by the luring call of your own personal sinful pleasures of choice. How can we be delivered from this bondage? That’s the slavery Paul is describing, the only permanent solution is another kind of slavery. The pleasures of sin are really just a cheap imitation, the true pleasure is found in the One who created pleasure in the first place. Delight yourself in the Lord, worship Him until you are overflowing with joy. This is the place of freedom, God’s love being poured into our hearts.