We have been speaking much in recent times of how our walk with the Lord needs to become more practical. We shared about how the Lord has given us a ‘tool box’ to assist with our daily walk. Prayer is one of the tools in the tool box. The following truth is another powerful tool in God’s Toolbox.
Did you know that our old sinful nature died and was buried with Jesus when He died on the cross?
“Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don’t have to? For sin’s power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptised to become part of Jesus Christ. Through His death the power of your sinful nature was shattered. Your old sin-loving nature was buried with Him by baptism when He died and when God the father, with glorious power, brought Him back to life again, you were given this wonderful new life to enjoy. For you have become part of Him and so you died with Him, so to speak, when He died, and now you share His new life and shall rise as He did. Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with him, that part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin’s control, no longer needs to be a slave to sin..” (Rom.6:1-6 LB).
We need to be reminded that it was not only our sins (past, present and future) that were forgiven at the cross (provided of course that we are repentant), but that our sinful nature (that part of us that wants to sin) was done away with as well.
This revelation or understanding is a very powerful tool to be used in our daily walk. Imagine, as an example, when anger rises up in us during the day. At that point we need to remember that this anger is part of our old sinful nature which died when Jesus died on the cross! It’s the ‘old me’ that becomes angry not the ‘new me’. The ‘new me’ desires to live a Godly life. As we take hold of this truth we will see much change in our personal lives. This in turn will give us strength and testimony in our walk. Ask the Lord now to help you understand this truth!
We know that scripture is true, but why is it then that after understanding the above, we don’t want to sin but end up sinning anyway, what is happening to us? Where does the struggle take place?
Let’s go to Romans 7:23-24. The answer is the struggle takes place in our minds. The evil one has no power on earth except the power to tempt people. He cannot force them to sin. Isa. 54:16-17 shows how God uses Satan for the purpose of refining us, and he does this by tempting us to sin (James.1:13-16; 1 Cor. 7:5). If we no longer have an old nature that desires to sin, then how will the evil one succeed in getting us to sin? – the answer – by lying to us in our minds. The method he uses is to place a thought in our mind and wait until we accept it. Once we accept the ungodly thought, we are sinning, even if it has not yet had the chance to become an action (Matt.5:28).
Romans 8:6 warns us that such thoughts will result in spiritual death (separation from God in other words). But if we keep our minds filled with spiritual thoughts, then we will experience life.
How can we make the above truth real in our lives? Ask the Lord to help re-new our minds on a daily basis by the power of His Holy Spirit. We can try these simple steps:
1. Daily confess our sins to God. His promise to us if we do this is, “…He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. (1 Jn. 1:9)
2. Be washed by the word of God. In other words, if possible, systematically read our Bibles every day.
3. Pray every day – alone with God and as often as we can with other Christians.
4. Be very careful what we allow our minds to receive every day. Be careful of what we read – negative newspapers and magazines. Be careful of negative television and movies. All these are designed by the evil one to destroy the ability of our minds to be renewed.
5. Reject negative thoughts the minute they enter our minds. You now know where they are coming from and where they will lead!
From: “…time with the Master…”