I don’t have to sin!

  I’ve been spending some time in Romans of late.  It has been said that if every book of the Bible but Romans were destroyed, there would be no fear of anything being left out of the gospel.  I believe it.  This blog I’m thinking specifically of chapter six. 

  I remember the first time I encountered the teaching that we don’t need to sin.  I was reading Chuck Swindoll’s The Grace Awakening.  It blew me away and as I think about it now it still excites me.  When we became united with Christ (became Christians) we were not only saved from the penalty of sin but also the dominion, or rule, or power, of sin.  Before we ‘became Christians’, we were slaves of sin.  We thought we were making our own choices and that we had freedom.  A lot of people still think they do.  They think it’s fun to sin and that living for Jesus takes all the fun out of life.  But really it’s only misery.  As the Message puts it:

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

So really, it’s not freedom.  It’s slavery.  

  Living for Jesus means a change in masters.  Rather than serving sin and death, we serve the Author of Life.  When that happens sin’s power over us is BROKEN.  We have died to sin.  We don’t live in it anymore.  And "this death [to sin] occurred even though the believers may not be aware of it."  (Jerry Bridges, The Disciplines of Grace)  That’s the only reason that Christians are not living more sinless lives: we don’t realize we serve a new master.  Do we still sin?  Of course.  But we do not live in it.  It’s not our dominant way of life anymore.  It’s not our master.

  So what does that mean practically?  That means I don’t have to let my frustration govern my decisions when things aren’t going the way I would like them to.  That means I don’t have to be angry at people when they don’t meet my expectations.  That means that I don’t have to please myself in the morning and sleep in rather than getting up and using my time wisely (yeah, that one needs work!).  That means I don’t have to let ungodly thoughts stay in my mind.  It means a lot of things.  It’s freedom!