Are you a slave to sin?
“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin.” Romans 6:4-7
You no longer have to be a slave to sin, as Paul writes we are free from its hold on our life. Live in Christ’s resurrection an in the glory of the Father.
Not there, still feel the tug of sin in your life? I too feel that and even slip knowingly into its trap. Am I lost, are you lost? Paul was right with us. After Romans 6 he writes Romans 7 addressing this very issue.
After talking about doing what he hates and knows he should not do, Paul says, “But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of death? Romans 7:20-24
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:1-3
So when we sin it is okay? This answer is no. While we are tempted and my give in, it cannot be a way of life. We must walk in the Spirit. “that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For mind of flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:4-6
It is the path we choose to stay on that is the key. The longer you are on a path, the more difficult it is to get off. Walk down the path of the flesh too long and it will lead to death. Best to not even go there, but if you see yourself straying turn around quickly and get back in the Spirit and receive peace.
By Brian David Knapp Author and Columnist
Read Brian's columns at:
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Author of:
In The Hands Of The Father: My Life With God
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Read Brian's columns at:
http://www.examiner.com/faith-and-culture-in-los-angeles/brian-knapp
Please read my other writings listed on the right of this page or read my columns. I periodically add writings in both places. My only goal is to share what it means to have a amazing relationship with God and how I have achieved that in the hope you to will be able to start on that path. It is a journey that I am still on, join me.
