Today's Bible Reading: ROMANS 5:1-8:17
Romans 6:12
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
Everyone struggles with sin. Believers and nonbelievers alike experience the devastating effects of sin. Sin’s passions pursue us daily. They seek recognition. Sin desires to reign and rule over us. It longs to maintain dominion over us. For the believer the power of sin remains, but its place has been removed. In Christ we have been freed from sin’s reign and rule over our life. It has been dethroned. It was dismantled and defeated by the death of Christ. We are no longer under the bondage of its beckoning. We are no longer enslaved to sin. We have been released from its realm. We have been transferred into a new kingdom. We are under a new regime and a new ruler. We have been removed from the darkness and now reside in the marvelous light.
But if you have been a Christian long enough you understand that we still struggle with sin. The lust of the flesh daily attacks our minds and heart. It seeks to defeat every spiritual advance that the Spirit has worked with in us. The tug of sin is still strong and resilient. Its power is strong and its presence is sure. Although defeated, it is determined to defeat us. We therefore must be watchful that it doesn’t gain ground in this endless battle.
Paul encourages us not to let sin retake its former place in our life. He says, “let not”. He suggests that as believers in a very real sense we have the reigns on sin’s rule over our life. “Let not”, challenges us to take up a defensive posture against sins pursuits. We must stand our ground and stick to our guns and not allow sin to gain a foothold in our life. From the very onset of sin’s assault, we must determine that we will not give in to its passions and urges. We must push away any and all desires that would let it reposition itself in our life. It must not be allowed to intrude into our life.
In contrast we must obey the Spirit rather than sin. We must passionately pursue our Savior so that we will not be passionate about sin. Only one can reign over us, the Savior or sin. We must not yield to sin’s advances to allow it at any point to be the controlling factor in our decisions. You alone can permit sin to live. Sin is dead to you, don’t let it live. You must not dig up what death has buried and allow it to live again. Therefore, you must not obey its passions. You cannot let it reign at all.
We are told that we can succeed in subduing sin when we recognize that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:11). Sin cannot reign where Christ rules. Being alive in Christ alienates sin. Our joy in Christ jilts sin. When our thoughts and passions are consumed with Christ we give no consideration to sin. Our desires for Him dismiss our desire to sin. When we are deeply alive and in love with Christ, we will have no desire to follow after sin. Be alive in Christ and sin will have no life in you.
Today faithfully fight the battle with sin. Consider yourself alive to God and dead to sin. Make your relationship to Jesus the key element in your struggle with sin. Recognize that the more intimate that you are with Christ the less interested you will be in sin. Ask the Lord to help you live like you are alive in Christ so that you will no longer be subject to sin’s sway. Ask Him to help you “let not” sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust. Live for Christ and lose the sin.
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