For 6 to 8 months, I’ve been dealing with an identity change. God has been nudging me and telling me it’s been 3 ½ years since my wife Darlene went to glory. But I’m still acting as if I’m still married. I’ve been resisting this change and upset with God about it. I’ve been stuck in a rut. Then I came across Romans 7:6
Rom 7:6 NASB
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Let me explain what this means to me. It’s a metaphor of when a husband dies, the wife is released from the letter of the marriage covenant. No big revelation here.
Rom 7:6 tells me why I must be released from Darlene – to serve again. I have to serve in the “newness” of the Spirit, not be bound by the “oldness” of the letter. I just realized with a nudge from God that I need to get out of the old to put on the new so I can get out of my rut and serve again.
My purpose here is to serve, not be consumed by what was.
Serve in Rom 7:6 is “Present Active Infinitive” (for you Consider God’s Word members) . Basically “I do it now – no one does it to me or for me”. I think I’ve been stuck waiting for things to work out instead of working it out. God wants me to do it, not sit on the sidelines. If I sit on the sidelines, I can’t serve. I’m no good for the kingdom of God.
This was the whole reason I felt something was missing when singing for the Worship team. I was just overwhelmed that I had to lead the Costa Rican Missionary team on worship songs a few weeks ago.
Romans 7:6 NASBS
– so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
To serve in the Spirit, I can only do this in newness. God says not in the oldness of the letter.
And so I turned that page. The results were amazing. Never in my imagination did I foresee how worship between two different peoples with different languages come together to praise one God.
My takeaway: when God asks you to leave something behind, you are not losing anything. You are following a path that He has already laid out for you. But you have to “just do it” – Present/Active/Infinitive. Start doing it and keep on doing it.