Dead to sin?

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  –Romans 6:11

Dying to sin is hard. It’s a process. If you compared it to a health condition, it would be more like cancer than a heart attack, both in the way it attacks and in its eradication. Left unchecked, it kills slowly. Once diagnosed, it can take a long time to treat and recover from.

But the fact that recovery is possible at all makes Jesus unique. Christianity is more than rules; it is relationship. It is dynamic, growing, organic. It is not check the box, record the achievement, pick up the merit badge and move on. Going back to the cancer analogy, if the forgiveness of past sin purchased at the cross is excising the tumor, then the Spirit’s work in our lives is the follow-up regimen to control the spread and prevent it from coming back. Anyone who has experienced that in their physical body can attest that the process is slow, painful, and may involve a setback or two.

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  –Romans 7:18

The relationship may ebb and flow, but the will of God is that we stay close and continue to go deeper. As good as the Law was at exposing sin, defining sin, and naming the price for sin, it never made provision for growth of the relationship. Jesus does. His Spirit inside us is transformational, both on a personal level and in the way that God would forevermore interact with the human race.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”  –1 Peter 2:24

My sinful nature is persistent – it does not die easily. The work of the Holy Spirit is usually methodical, slowly opening up like the petals of a flower to reveal more color as we go. It requires patience and persistence. There’s a quiet, confident beauty in that.

I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  –Romans 7:23-25

He will not give up. The question is, will I? When I suffer setbacks, will I respond in hopelessness or will I allow Him to coach me up? As I learn to give myself some grace, I understand that others are on the same journey and learn to extend that grace to them as well.

The last few months have gotten my attention. If I believe everything I see on the news, it’s easy to become anxious, fearful, and confused. Indeed, things may get worse before they become better and the world may be a different place when all the dust finally settles. None of this was a surprise to God. He has a plan. Remarkably, we are part of that plan. Our mission remains the same. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Him, and let Him do His work in us and through us.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  –Romans 6:22-23