Scripture:
“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.”
— Romans 6:12-13NLT
Observation:
Paul doesn’t hold back in this letter to the Romans. Why should he when it comes to sin? God has paid for us with the life of His Son, we can now choose to live a life honoring the Father. Paul drives a point of who is controlling you? We can let our desires rule our lives as they did before Jesus became our Savior. Or let Jesus rule our life with which He will give us a way out. Inevitably, our decisions will tell us who is our master.
Paul continues by telling us that we are not to allow any part of us to serve sin. It is like consuming poison, little by little. Although it may not kill you initially, that poison will build up in your system, and eventually, you will be harmed if not die. It is the attitude, “just a little won’t hurt.” Just a little peek at something I’m not supposed to watch, won’t hurt. Just a little lie won’t hurt anyone. Just a little thought won’t hurt anyone. Ephesians 4:27 says to not give the devil a foothold when we are angry. But we are to not give the devil a foothold to entice us to follow him to sin.
Application:
We are bound to have desires to sin. It is in our fallen nature. Paul talks about it later in Romans that he does what he doesn’t want to do. When we are tempted give in to God’s will for us. Whether it be to run, to walk away, to bite our tongue, or to pray. God knew we were going to fall into sin, thus He sacrificed His only Son to restore our relationship with Him. His overwhelming grace covers all of our sins and with that truth, we should begin to choose to use our bodies to do what honors and pleases God. We are no longer our own.
We can start by making our decision. We will always be faced with decisions to make, but let us begin to make our decision to choose Jesus. Of course, it will take discipline and practice but it will be well worth it. Pastor Wayne said that we should “fast-forward the tape.” Simply we should consider the outcome before deciding what to do. If we fast-forward what our decision could lead to, we can choose wisely.
Commit to following God as many times as possible. We need daily reminders, hourly reminders, to keep our focus on Christ.
Keep our bodies in check. Sometimes we may be easily led to sin because we are tired, hungry, lonely, stressed, or bored. Notice situations that could lead us to be tempted and fall into sin.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for choosing to sacrifice yourself for us. We are ever grateful for your overwhelming grace. We ask for your guidance to choose to honor you and keep from sinning. Please keep our minds focused on you. We love you and thank you, Jesus. In Your Name, Amen!
