So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
Romans 6:11-12
“I’m trying so hard to live the Christian life, but things don’t seem to work out. I revert to my old self so often. I do try, but sometimes the Christian life is like trying to lift the impossible. I try, but I also feel like it’s never going to get better. So I’ll just settle.” I’ve heard it many times from people over lunch and in counseling sessions. They come to the table defeated because they don’t realize the power they have in themselves.
Paul Simon released a song in 1975 titled “Slip Slidin’ Away.” Here is one of the verses.
God only knows
God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable
To the mortal man
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway
When in fact we’re slip slidin’ away
Do you ever feel that way? You work your job, collect your pay, glide down the highway, and slip slidin’ away? Many of us get to that place in our lives when we are going through the motions and fail to realize the power within us.
When we place our faith in Jesus, and what He did on the cross, we do so with the assurance that our lives will be different after that most significant decision. However, that is not the last decision we will make. There is another significant decision.
Don’t let sin reign
We have a real choice to make every day. We can choose to allow sin to reign in our bodies, or we can let the Holy Spirit reign. The word reign means to have the supreme rule over our lives. Sin wears the crown. Sin sits on the throne. Sin rules. I realize many of us never think of sin in that way. We think of sin as times when we stumble and fall. But in fact, That continual stumbling and falling is the result of allowing something to reign in our lives that God never meant to reign. God never intended for sin to take His place, but that’s what we do daily. Why would we trade in the best for the worst?
Living the Christian life is not a cakewalk. It’s not easy but is full of choices we must make every day. What is that most important decision? It is to live in the power of the Holy Spirit as He guides every step we take.
But, many of us play the game and give ownership of our bodies to sin. As one man once asked me, “How’s that working out for you?” Probably not too good. The truth is that when we allow sin to reign in our bodies, we are not functioning as God intended for us to perform. It’s like moving from a Cadillac to a Yugo. Wouldn’t you much rather drive a Cadillac?
Don’t let sin control
Transferring ownership from God to sin is a bad deal. When sin reigns rather than God, sin can make us obey its passions. It’s true. Back in high school, I had what some would call a “potty mouth.” Was it because I longed, craved, and desired to fit in with others? That was what I told myself. If I just talked like they did, I would be popular. I could run with the popular crowd. The truth was that sin was king of my life, and it caused me to obey its passions.
I don’t know what passions you deal with, but I know that if your passion isn’t God, then you’ve traded the best for the worse. You’ve transferred the title from your Cadillac to a Yugo.
So how do we get to that undesirable and miserable place in our lives? We make a terrible deal
Don’t make a bad deal
Either we have never really trusted Christ, or we have never embraced the truth that we are dead to sin. Sin has no reign or authority over our lives unless we decide to give sin that place. Do you understand what I’m saying? If God saved you, sin no longer should reign in your life. Maybe it occasionally creeps in. But, if we understand that God dramatically and fantastically changed us by the power of the good news that Jesus died for our sins and we now have the Holy Spirit in us, sin indeed does not reign in our mortal bodies. It must not.
If we are to live lives that honor God, sin cannot take the throne that is reserved only for Jesus in our hearts. The real tragedy is the many Christians never get to experience this kind of joy that overcomes sin. Sin lives in the shadows of our lives while we pretend that all is well. It’s time to get serious today. Serious about sin and serious about Jesus. We MUST NOT ALLOW sin to reign anymore.
You might say, “I’ve gone too far down the path for Jesus to pick me up again. He’s done it so many times already.” Let me tell you that Jesus will pick you up and pick you up and pick you up. Do you know why? Because His love is unending. He wants you to experience the best things. Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus!