Released and Remarried

There’s a strange kind of peace that settles in when you finally realize you don’t have to keep earning what God has already given. Paul reminds us in Romans 7 that we were once bound to the law, the way a wife is bound to her first husband—tied to a system that exposed our sin but couldn’t save us from it. The law was right, true, and holy, but it couldn’t heal what was broken in us. It could only reveal the cracks.

Then Christ stepped in.
Through His death, we died too, not physically, but spiritually to that old covenant that kept reminding us of everything we lacked. The chains we wore for so long fell off at the foot of the cross. We were released.

But Paul doesn’t leave us standing alone in the cold. He says we’re now joined to Another—Jesus, the One who loves us fiercely, faithfully, and without flinching at our messes. We aren’t just freed; we’re claimed. We belong to Him so our lives can finally bear fruit worth offering—obedience that grows from love, not fear… devotion shaped by gratitude, not guilt.

This new “marriage” to Christ invites us to live with a different kind of loyalty, a quiet boldness, and a heart steady as granite ledges along the Maine coast. We’re called to walk free of the old ways, free of shame, free of striving. What Christ broke, we don’t need to try to reattach. What He released, we don’t need to drag behind us.

We are His—fully, freely, forever.

Prayer for This Week

Jesus, thank You for setting me free from the weight of the law and the chains of my old life. Thank you for calling me Yours and giving me a place to belong. Teach me to walk in the freedom You bought with Your own blood. Let my life bear fruit that honors You—steady, sincere, rooted in love. Keep me close, keep me faithful, and keep me brave.

In Your holy name,

Amen.