Romans 6:14a
In verses 12 and 13, Paul has been exhorting us to take sin in our lives very seriously, to purge it as God reveals it to us so that it may not gain a foothold, recognizing the terrible hindrance it is to our relationship with our Father, who is to be our everything. Anything that affects our relationship with the One, the Great I Am, affects every part of our life.
To sin is to miss the mark - the mark being the standard that is God, which is to be perfectly sinless and perfectly righteous.
Obviously, the Bible has a lot to say about sin - it is what separates us from God at birth, and it will be the reason we are eternally separated from Him at death - unless we experience the forgiveness of our sin through the blood of Christ.
That being said, I want to look at some of the things Paul has stated about sin just in the first part of Chapter 6. It's very important that we have the proper perspective on sin as God's children, and the context Paul is working in here is crucial.
For one who has died has been set free from sin (vs 7)
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (vs 11)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions (vs 12)
What is Paul saying in these verses? As God's children, we have been set free from sin, meaning we have been justified, forgiven, saved! We are dead to sin, it no longer separates us from our Holy God! We can now see the ugliness of sin, and make the choice to not allow it to reign in this mortal body!
We must approach sin in our lives with confidence, knowing that, by the power of God, we can - and must - purge sin from our lives as He reveals it to us. While it's crucial to recognize the importance of moving away from sin and towards God, we cannot allow Satan to convince us that we are powerless over sin, or that sin has the power to do anything to us as God's children. If we do, we will begin to feel beaten and downtrodden, like we are losing the battle - which results in us not being the light of God to the world - a light that burns brightest when it is fueled by the boldness of victory in God through Jesus!
We need to understand that we are not losing the battle, and that the war has already been won - approaching sin with the confidence that it has no power over us and it can be overcome by the power of God in our lives will result in great sanctification!
So, with those three verses above in mind, Paul says again in here in verse 14: For sin will have no dominion over you...
The word 'for' is important, because it tells us that Paul is giving a reason for something. Here, Paul is giving us the reason for verse 13. We are not to present our members to sin, but rather present ourselves to God, and our members to righteousness, 'for' (or because) sin has no power over us.
Paul is saying that, since sin has no power over us, we have the power, by God, to choose what we are going to do with the members of our body. Sin cannot make us present our members to sin, nor can sin prevent us from presenting our members to righteousness. These are choices we have the power to make because sin has no dominion over us!
If we have sin in our lives, it's because we have not exercised the power of God in our lives over that sin! This should start build that confidence we ought to have as children of the Almighty God!
Sin has no dominion over us - sin can no longer control us because it does not align with the desires of our heart any mind anymore, it is in opposition to the Holy Spirit living in us, and no longer provides any pleasure or happiness that lasts or compares to the joy we find in a growing relationship with God!
Sin has no dominion over us - sin can no longer condemn us because it no longer separates us from God. We are eternally alive, we cannot die spiritually - thus sin has been emptied of all power over us!
Sin has no dominion over us - because we know the previous two statements are true, we also must know that any negative affects of sin in our life are our fault. We have the choice to overcome and purge sin as God reveals it to us, and we need to be constantly praying for Him to do so. When He does, and we don't respond correctly, we are refusing to approach sin with the confidence and power that God can work in our life.
Sin has no dominion over us - sin itself is never an excuse - we are always responsible for the results in our lives brought on by any sin that is present - this is true because we have the power to not allow sin to control us.
Sin has no dominion over us - be confident! Take on sin with confidence that we have a God whose grace, mercy, and power are greater than any sin! Sure, we will stumble. Sure, we will slip. We will never be perfect this side of heaven, but oh the joy that comes from seeking God's face!
As we focus on God alone, sin will lose it's appeal, and it's influence in our lives...we must become completely occupied with drawing close to God!
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