By David ReayTuesday 16 Nov 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God. (THE MESSAGE)
Many of us are so thankful that the penalty for our rebellion against God has been paid by Jesus. Many of us, though, are disturbed by the everyday experience we have of surrendering to what the Bible calls sin. The penalty has been paid, but the power lingers.
And it will be like this till Jesus takes us to himself. Sin, or the tendency we have to go our own way, has not been abolished. But it has been put in a different context. One way of looking at it is to imagine ourselves living as tenants in an apartment. A new landlord has taken ownership: a good and kind landlord.
But the old landlord persists in appearing at the door, demanding his right to come in an interfere with our lives. He has no real right, but he keeps knocking. And we, on occasions, let him in. While we belong to the new landlord, we still give the time of day to the old landlord. We are under new ownership in principle, we are still in touch with the old ownership in practice.
One day the knocking at the door will cease. But till then, we are encouraged by Paul to realise that we don’t have to open that door. Instead, open the door to that new landlord who can give us all sorts of help in enjoying living in his space. We can’t stop the knocking, but we can decide when and to whom we will open the door.
Blessings,
David