Dead to Sin
Romans 6:2
Well, then, should I keep on sinning so that God can give me more and more of His wonderful grace? I mean, I have a free pass, what difference does it make? Isn’t He just going to dole out more forgiveness? Of course not!!! Sounds like a really lame argument doesn’t it, but I am amazed how many times I’ve actually thought something along these lines. Not those exact words mind you, but in the way of excuses for the little things I let slide. Things like my tone when I speak to someone. Or when I just can’t seem to bring myself to be kind because someone made the mistake of crossing me on a day that I just can’t handle one more thing. My sins might not be of the magnitude they once were, but I have certainly used this verse to unload on the unsuspecting because I wasn’t able to rightfully process my emotions that day. The store clerk, a fellow driver on the highway, my husband, my children. I seem to make the unconscious excuse that the closer they are to me the more it doesn’t really matter because they should know my heart; I can always apologize, or they deserved it because they didn’t pick up their socks. Whatever the excuse, I don’t really spend a lot of time formulating my pretense, but it does seem to be based in what I deserve or my intentions vs. their actions. Then I read something like this: How can we who died to sin still live in it? Ouch! It makes me think of living in pig squaller while parading about in a ball gown and tiara.
The truth is, mine comes from selfishness and self-absorption. My life is more important, My schedule more dire, or my needs more vital than your needs to be loved and respected. If I were truly immersed in Messiah Yeshua and His death, wouldn’t I have something to show for it? Shouldn’t I be steeped in His love to the point of overflowing? Yes, I would think so too, but I’ll find myself reading out of obligation rather than in attempt to connect with Him so He can fill me up to have something to give others. Or, worse, skimping on time spent with Him because something on my schedule feels more important. When I don’t soak to be filled up, the sponge of who I am becomes hard and brittle not wanting to bend to the needs of others. I become like those I should be setting the example for.
We hear it all the time. Christians are just hypocrites. If their God was real and had anything to offer, wouldn’t we see it in their behavior? They sin the same as us, they divorce as often as we do, their kids rebel like ours. When I cut corners in my relationship to Jesus, I don’t only hurt myself and my families, I set myself up to ruin my witness. Ruining my witness doesn’t end up just being about how I look to others. I end up losing my ability to minister to the dying world He came to save. I lose my saltiness, my ability to affectively be a witness to the God I profess to love.
Jesus’ whole life was about serving others. He was sent to serve others, He lived to serve others, He died to serve others. Most of the time I’m lucky if I can muster a sincere smile at the arrogant so-and-so who just stole “my” parking “space”. I need to remember that I was buried with Him and died with Him—raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so I too might walk in a new way and bring others with me.
Today, let me create space in my life that isn’t about filling a selfish desire. Let me remember that I am His daughter, that He chose to die for me because He knows I am worth it. Because His love abounds for me, genuinely give me a desire for His love and His heart over checking off items on my to-do-list. Let me crave listening to His heart for me instead of listening to the devil’s lies about His opinion of me.