Romans 6:12
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body”
Life is a series of choices. What you choose is up to you.
- Choosing to follow Jesus is a choice.
- Choosing to reject Jesus is a choice.
- Choosing to sin is a choice.
- Choosing to obey Jesus is a choice.
Your basic choice on earth is to choose or reject Jesus. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” That is your choice to make. Have you accepted Jesus? Been born again?
If you are born again, the next basic choice is to choose to sin or choose to obey Jesus.
I am born again. I have been changed by God – so now I am freed from enslavement to sin. Because God, as Holy Spirit, lives in my body – I no longer have to sin. I have a choice, but now I no longer have to sin.
I can choose to sin, but I don’t have to because Jesus has freed me from my former enslavement to sin. I am a brand new creature through the work of God in me.
Any born again believer can choose to sin. That is why Paul wrote Romans 6:12. Paul is exhorting us to pay attention to what we do in life, and be watchful to NOT sin. He is saying, Don’t let it!
When I sin, I have another choice to make. I can choose to
confess and repent, turn away and admit failure, turn around and go the other way, kneel in humbleness and ask for His strength to resist the devil, resist temptation, stand strong in the power of His might;
or
wallow and go deeper into sin, delay and continue, rebel further and more seriously, become more engaged in sin, make my sin my way of life, give up and give in, seek arguments and philosophies to condone my actions, say it’s alright, totally reject Jesus.
Daily I am confronted with opportunities to sin. I have “sin choices” thrown my way constantly. The world, and the flesh, and the devil – all are arrayed against me, constantly working to take me away – to their ways. Life really is a series of choices.
Let it. Don’t let it.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body” –Romans 6:12
Sin is always knocking at my door. I can let it …or not let it. My choice.
If I am strong in the Spirit, I will be strong to resist and not let sin reign. If I am worn-down and have let the little things in… then I will more likely “let sin reign“.
The “little things” are different for us all, based on our make-up, our “inner man”, and “the sin that easily besets you.” But we all have them! Consider this passage in differing versions:
Hebrews 12:1-3 Version: The Message (MSG)
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3 Version: Amplified Bible (AMP)
Jesus, the Example
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of [a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, 2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
3 Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
If I “let sin…” then I succumb. If I succumb, then I could go deeper into sin.
If I were to let sin reign in my body, then… wow, what a different person I would become. But thanks be to God – He has preserved me. I owe all that I have become – to God who strengthens me.
FOR MORE:
If I Were To Let Sin Reign In My Body
Read the series on Every believer’s new life in Christ, from Ephesians 1. We are made new creatures, given new life in Christ – when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
- Growing into our natural new life in Christ
- Every believer’s new life in Christ [Part One]
- Explaining the Basic Christian Experience [Part Two]
