Author | Seth Newman |
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
For Christians, our call is to live like Jesus in the way that the Bible teaches us to. The problem is that we often don’t live the way that we should. In the book of Romans, Paul makes the point that we no longer have to live by a set of rules to go to heaven, but we have been given salvation as a gift of grace through faith. Romans 6:15-16 says, “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness?” You are a slave of something, whether that is your own selfish desires, or of obedience.
You cannot give in to your desires and be actively obedient to God at the same time. Trying to be a slave to both sin and obedience is like trying to balance the north pole of one magnet on the north pole of another magnet, or mixing oil and water. You don’t have to be a science nerd to know that neither of these is possible. If you are a slave of sin, you want more because it feels good, and despite what you may think, you cannot obey God at the same time.
The problem is that we don’t realize there is a problem in our lives. No one wakes up one morning with a plan to forsake God, but instead we slowly drift away without even realizing it. Drifting is the result of a failure to consistently present yourself as a slave to obedience. Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” You will do whatever you choose to do. You do your homework because you choose to, and if you don’t choose to (like perhaps right now), it will never get done. If you do not intentionally choose to take up your cross and offer yourself as a slave of obedience, you will follow your own desires instead of Jesus. This is why taking up your cross is a daily act, not just one time or every Sunday morning. You must consciously make the choice to obey, and if you don’t do this every day, you will slowly begin to live your life however you want without even realizing it. Every day, you make small, seemingly insignificant decisions that begin to form habits, which you repeat every day without even noticing. If you do not actively live as a slave of obedience, you will slowly begin to live as a slave to your sin, even though you have no idea that you are moving away from God.
When you are drifting, you are giving space in your heart to Satan, whose goal is to drive you completely away from God in any way he can. He cannot occupy your heart unless you let him, but if you give in to sin, you are giving him more room. The more space he has, the more power he has and the easier it will be for him to gain more ground. It is very important to deal with sin quickly, because if you let it slide, it will quickly take more control of you than you ever imagined it would.
The story doesn’t end here, however. When you find yourself wandering from God and controlled by your sin, you don’t have to be stuck there forever, but you can still return to God. James 4:6-8 tells us to be humble and to submit to God. If we resist the devil, he will flee, and if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to fasten our eyes on Jesus, and Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us to put on the full armor of God. Be humble, acknowledge your sin, and turn away from it. Go through and read all of the passages that I have brought up, and read them carefully. Spend time every day reading the Word of God and praying. (Just because it sounds like a good idea right now and because you want to read the Bible every day does not mean that you will.) Every morning you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and run after Jesus.