“The belief that God is everywhere should persuade us to sin nowhere.”
Richard Steele
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. —Romans 6:12–13
In an effort to steer you toward some Christian websites that will strengthen you in your walk with the Lord, I will occasionally be posting a portion of an article and also the link where you can read the rest of the article and perhaps, explore additional content found on the website. Some of these sites will have a feature where you can subscribe and receive edifying future articles. The first such article is entitled “6 Tactics for your Fight against Sin” by Brad Wetherell. Brad writes:
Seek to Stop Sin
In Romans 6:12–13, Paul applies the truth of union with Christ directly to our battle with temptation. He offers a practical strategy for fighting sin that we can break down into six tactics. I’d encourage you to bring something specific to mind right now. What is a current temptation in your life? What battle with sin are you waging? Knowing the truth about yourself in Christ, how can you fight? How can you seek to stop it?
1. Don’t Go Back to Prison
Again, Paul writes in Romans 6:12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” Until Christ returns or we go to be with him, we live in mortal bodies—bodies that are tainted by sin and tempted to sin. But Paul exhorts us against acting as if sin reigns over our bodies any longer. Sin used to reign over us. We were slaves to sin, its prisoners (Prov. 5:22; Rom. 6:17). Like a cruel guard, sin once held us captive. But Christ came, paid our penalty, and purchased our freedom (Gal. 5:1). He broke sin’s shackles that held us fast, opened the prison doors, and called us out to follow him.
As a result, whenever sin shouts at us to come back inside, to put the chains back on, we can say, “No! You don’t rule over me anymore. Christ is my Lord now.”
When temptation comes, don’t think to yourself, “Sin is inevitable. Its pull is too powerful for me. What’s the point of fighting?” Instead, tell yourself, “Sin has lost its authority over me. I belong to Christ. Therefore, I will resist. I will not act as if sin reigns.”
To see the other five tactics, please click on the link below. Have a blessed week and we will see many of you on Sunday.
“6 Tactics for your Fight against Sin” by Brad Wetherell
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dale
