Instrument
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
Today’s Text: Romans 6:8-14 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The fact that sin shall no longer be my master, since I am no longer under the law but under grace, doesn’t mean that I no longer struggle with sin. It does mean that my orientation and perspective in every area of my life changes.
It means that in any given situation, the decision to be “an instrument of righteousness” feels more natural than the decision to be “an instrument of wickedness.” And as I grow as a child of God, I trust that the decision to be an “instrument of righteousness” will become my automatic response more and more.
For that to happen, I must never take for granted the salvation that I have received by being in Christ through faith. I have literally been saved from a fate worse than death. Whatever physical or emotional pain and sorrow I may have experienced in my life pales in comparison to the eternal torture and pain and sorrow and depression and anxiousness and regret and death that I would experience apart from Christ.
And while it is not just for this life that I put my hope in Christ (I’m no fool), it is not just for the afterlife that I put my hope in Christ, either. Christ is my hope whether in this life or the next.
For I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
— Galatians 2:20
… so long as it is “now.”
I think that for many people, we struggle so much with not letting sin reign in our mortal bodies, we struggle so much with not offering any part of ourselves to sin as an instrument of righteousness, we easily bypass the real need to offer every part of ourselves to God as an instrument of righteousness.
We cannot fix ourselves by sitting around and doing nothing but trying to fix ourselves. We cannot fix ourselves by giving up and giving in to our sin, either. Only God can fix us. But it takes an act of personal will to live for Christ in every area of our lives.
We cannot do what only God can do. And God will not do for us what we can do ourselves.
Father, Your ways are perfect, but they are mysterious. Although I am a sinner through and through, You have made a way for my holiness. And You have already accomplished my righteousness. You have done the impossible so that I may live for Your glory in what is possible. And so let my life bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
