“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” Romans 6:12-14 NLT
The Apostle Paul’s whole discussion about sin, mastery and slavery is fairly creepy. It’s all true, but there is a kind of a horror genre running through the theme. I’ve been reading/listening to John Mark Comer’s “Live No Lies,” and this idea of a wicked battle of good and evil in and over every human soul is so heady and deep.
Paul uses two concepts that help me understand how sin works against me. One word is control. Don’t let sin control me, he writes. Being a believer and feeling the conviction of the Spirit of God, I shiver to think how often I DO let sin control me. Of course I don’t WANT it to, but anger, lust, fear and envy have a way of hijacking my emotions and taking over. Paul continues to remind me that the power of Christ has given me a supernatural capability to say no!
This whole idea of fighting or the second concept of “giving in,” is starkly wild to what culture says I should be doing. Basically, our current modus operandi is to participate in a lot of sin to whatever capacity I feel like experiencing. There are no suggested restraints anymore. So living and giving into my sins would be celebrated today, that is of course, unless is offensive to a canceled woke culture – the gods of morality now.
I love Paul’s specificity about our body having instruments of sin. This is a funny comparison to mouth, eyes, ears, hand and possibly even feet in a very proverbs kind of way (running to sin). As I have aged, I’ve also realized that I will spend my entire life figuring this all out. I guess I’m a slow learner.
Prayer
Dad,
I will fight on. I will work hard not to let my sin control me and not to give in. Sometimes it feels like a circular battle. There are a ton of good days and quite a few bad ones on this. Yet, I am forever grateful for your grace and abundant patience and mercy. Just to know I am loved as your son and that noting can separate me from that is enough. Thank You.