Ignore No More

Numbers 32:23b You may be sure that your sin will find you out.

I had been friends with Elizabeth long enough to recognize her as a young woman who was both refined and restrained. You can imagine my horror one autumn day when I...well....flatulated in her living room as we chatted. Much to my relief, Hannah, then two, was standing close by. Surely I could pass my unfortunate "release" off on her. Precocious from birth, Hannah toddled straight up to me, waved her chubby hand in front of her nose and declared, "Shoo-ee, Mommy, that's a no-no." It was that precise moment when I realized that the harder I try to ignore my sin, the more likely it is to rise to the surface.

Today I am reading Romans 6. Paul has just established in chapter 5 that it was through the sacrifice of one life, Jesus', that every person can be saved. In this section, Paul explains what happens when we sin after becoming a Christian. Jesus was raised from the dead so that we too "may live a new life" (Verse 4). That new life is supposed to start immediately but what if my new life doesn't look so different from the old one? What if it is marked with the same patterns of sin and selfishness I thought I was leaving behind?

I personally chose to follow Jesus on December 31, 1990. What I didn't know that night is that I wouldn't wake up on January 1, 1991 and instantaneously cease all wrong thoughts, words and actions. Becoming more like Jesus would be a lifelong adventure lived one day at a time. Romans 6 gives us a road map to stop ignoring our sin and expedite the process of becoming more like Jesus each day.

• Count Yourself Dead to Sin (Verse 11) - I thought it was adorable when my kids first learned to count. They would say a few numbers in order and then invariably they'd skip several numbers ahead. That is sort of like me when I became a Christian. I thought that like a toaster, you put in a sinner and out popped a sinless saint. I kept trying to skip numbers in my walk with Christ. As I've grown to know Jesus more, I've realized that usually there's just one thing He really wants to work on me at a time. As I count myself dead to that exact sin, my life in that specific area begins to change.
• Do Not Offer Your Body to Sin (Verse 13) - Each moment of each day, I have a choice to offer my life to God or to sin. An offering is a gift and a gift comes from your heart. My actions, thoughts and words will not change unless my heart is changed. So after I count myself dead to the specific sin, I must resolve in my heart to offer my life to different actions.
• Know That I Have Been Set Free (Verse 18) - As long as I believe that Jesus has no power to change me, my life will not change. In Ephesians 1:19-20 tells us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is act work within the believer to give us victory over sin. Praise Jesus he has set me free - one sin and one choice at a time.

Jesus, today I will address that one thing You want to change in me today. I will count myself dead to that specific sin, offer my body to different, opposite actions and trust Your power to set me free.