DEAD TO SIN
Gal. 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the
passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them
there. NLT
The message is clear:
if you belong to Christ, you will no longer be controlled and driven by sinful
desires and passions. There will be an awareness of the wrongfulness of sinful
behavior, thoughts, and attitudes. There will be a sensitivity to what pleases
God and what doesn't. Granted, we grow into our awareness, but grow we will.
Without the help of
Christ, we are slaves to our sinful nature. We will sin naturally. It is not
something we can do anything about. Jesus changes our desires; He changes our
character. His presence prevents our sinful nature from rearing its ugly head.
Our ability to resist
the temptations to sin is directly related to our relationship with Christ. If
you are having problems with sin in your life, you need to draw closer to the
Lord. You cannot sin as long as He is near to your heart and in your heart.
Think about it for a
moment. Whenever you sin, it's because the presence of sin is more powerful at
the moment than the presence of Christ to you. The only way we can resist the
urge to sin is to reclaim Christ's presence at the moment. Sinning is a choice
and therefore a responsibility we can't avoid. You have no one to blame but
yourself when you fall into sin. Satan has no more power over you than you let him
have.
Don’t get me
wrong. You will be tempted no matter how
close you live to Christ and you will stumble into sin from time to time. But, the closer you live to Christ the
stronger you will become in your ability to resist what tempts you. Your desire to pursue temptation will wane as
you stay closely connected to the Lord.
And, when you do
fail, you will know it and flee to the Lord for forgiveness and renewed
strength.
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