Photo by Charles F. Stanley.

Daily Devotion

Liberated to Live

We can overcome sinful habits by trusting the Lord to meet our needs and asking Him for strength.

February 4, 2023

Romans 7:14-25

Christ has set believers free from the condemnation of sin, but fighting against it is still a challenge. We can all identify with Paul’s struggle in Romans 7 because we too may feel enslaved to sinful acts, habits, or attitudes. So, how can you enjoy the freedom Christ has won for you?

First, recognize that your problem is spiritual. When you were saved, you received a new nature created in righteousness, holiness, and truth, but you still live in a fleshly, fallen body that’s bent toward sin. That’s why you’re feeling an internal conflict.

Second, examine your motives and desires. Ask yourself, Why do I indulge to the point that I am mastered by this temptation?

Third, cry out to the Lord for help. Fill your mind with biblical truth. Then, believe that the Holy Spirit will enable you to deny your sinful desires and walk in obedience to God.

The Lord is progressively setting you free from the power of sin. Although you will always battle it to some degree in this life, the outcome is certain. After death or when Christ returns, you’ll be completely free from sin and won’t ever struggle with it again.

Bible in One Year: Leviticus 17-20

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 ``Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, `This is what the LORD has commanded, saying,

3 ``Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp,

4 and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

5 ``The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the LORD, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.

6 ``The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and offer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to the LORD.

7 ``They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations."'

8 ``Then you shall say to them, `Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,

9 and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD, that man also shall be cut off from his people.

10 `And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

11 `For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'

12 ``Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, `No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.'

13 ``So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

14 ``For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, `You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.'

15 ``When any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean.

16 ``But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his guilt."

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 ``Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, `I am the LORD your God.

3 `You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

4 `You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.

5 `So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.

6 `None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD.

7 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.

8 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.

9 `The nakedness of your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover.

10 `The nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours.

11 `The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

12 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's blood relative.

13 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's blood relative.

14 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt.

15 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

16 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.

17 `You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness.

18 `You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.

19 `Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity.

20 `You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor's wife, to be defiled with her.

21 `You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

22 `You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

23 `Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

24 `Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.

25 `For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.

26 `But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you

27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled);

28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.

29 `For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people.

30 `Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the LORD your God.'"

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

2 ``Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, `You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

3 `Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.

4 `Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God.

5 `Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

6 `It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire.

7 `So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted.

8 `Everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

9 `Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

10 `Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

11 `You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

12 `You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

13 `You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.

14 `You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

15 `You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

16 `You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD.

17 `You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.

18 `You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

19 `You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.

20 `Now if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free.

21 `He shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD to the doorway of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.

22 `The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

23 `When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.

24 `But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.

25 `In the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit, that its yield may increase for you; I am the LORD your God.

26 `You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.

27 `You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.

28 `You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.

29 `Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness.

30 `You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD.

31 `Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

32 `You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

33 `When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

34 `The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

35 `You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.

36 `You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

37 `You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the LORD.'"

Leviticus 17