“1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
“5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
“12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 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. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” – Galatians 6:1-15
Do you want to know a question that will always draw you into God’s presence? Ask yourself this at any given moment, “Why I am really doing this?” You might be amazed at how many times you catch yourself living out of your old life instead of walking in the new life Jesus has made available for you. If you’re doing something you know is wrong and your only reason for wanting to stop it is because you don’t want to be guilty, you’re not living the new life. You see, the new life in Christ is about pleasing God.
I was struggling with lust really bad last week. I was on a total sin binge. (I know that you know you know exactly what I’m talking about.) I didn’t want to be holy. I just wanted to be not guilty. That’s why I couldn’t get the thoughts and dirty fantasies out of my head. I was concerned with what a girl would think if she could read my mind more so than I was with God who actually was reading my mind. I was worried about what I was dragging my own personal integrity through more so than I was about what I was dragging Jesus’ name through with every sinful thought. I sound more like a slave to self than I do a servant of God, don’t I?
Here’s the kicker. I woke up one morning with those same things knocking on my mind’s door and finally a really, truly holy thought popped into my mind. “God, I want to please You.” Here’s the thing about being religious. It ruins the fun of sin. As a religious person, doing the wrong thing is bitter to you even though it feels good in the moment. What pleases you is not being wrong. It’s pleasing to feel like you made it – like you’re not the broken person anymore. This isn’t what pleases someone who really loves Jesus. What pleases them is pleasing Him. It has absolutely nothing to do with them and absolutely everything to do with Him! This is why I mentioned the “why?” question earlier. The “why?” behind everything that you do is the litmus test of your spirit.
How’s your spirit?
Zombie by Faith 