ESCAPING SIN'S RULE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Turn to me and have mercy on me, as You always do to those who love Your name. Direct my footsteps according to Your word; let no sin rule over me.

Psalm 119:132-133

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What does it mean to rule over something?

Refer to the dictionary and you’ll discover the following:

1. Something that rules has dominion, or supreme authority, over its subjects.

2. Something that rules exercises authority and control over those ruled.

In life, we have two fundamental choices to make regarding the matter of who will rule over us.

On one hand, we submit ourselves to the world and its ways, opting to align our desires with its offerings. This decision commits us to the rule of Satan and sin.

On the other hand, we can submit ourselves to the Lord and opt for a life directed toward righteousness and holiness. We allow the One who is the King of kings and Lord of lords to have full power and command over us, and we humbly submit ourselves to Him as servants and subjects.

Indeed, the Bible speaks over and over about God-followers being enslaved to their Heavenly Father, the Master of all mankind, and yet many people who profess to believe in God tend to not behave like they are. Too many people wish to toe the line between righteousness and sinfulness. They want the blessings of God along with the pleasures of the world.

Unfortunately, a Godly life can’t function that way. For God doesn’t expect us to give Him just a part of ourselves. No, He wants all of us, every part of our being as committed to Him as He is to us.

So what do the scriptures have to say about this struggle between sin and spiritual purity?

Consider these passages:

“But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7 (God speaking with Cain before he murdered his brother Abel)

Indeed, sin crouches at the door of every day we live, desiring for us to fall prey to its seductions and temptations. Note what God says to Cain: “You must rule over it.”

Now no one has the power within themselves to rule over sin. It’s far too powerful for us to handle alone. This is why we need the power and might of the Living God within our hearts and minds, a power and might that will always ensure we are victorious in our battles with the evil one.

Trust in this truth: Invoke the power of God each and every day against sin, allow Him to rule over your life, and you will ensure that the sin crouching at your door will never be able to enter through it.

Look at another passage:

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:6-7

As Christians, we, through baptism, have died to who we once were only to rise up out of the waters a new creation ready to live a new life under a new authority, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Once enslaved to sin, we are now under the authority and control of the One who lived a perfectly sinless life. As long as we allow Him to live and dwell within us through the Holy Spirit, we will ensure we are living anew in righteousness, leaving our sin on the cross where Jesus paid the price for them. We then submit to His reign and follow His way and His truth and His life, understanding that He is the only way we have access to live with the Father forever.

Finally, consider these words from the Psalms:

But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. Psalm 19:12-13

Turn to me and have mercy on me, as You always do to those who love Your name. Direct my footsteps according to Your word; let no sin rule over me. (Today’s passage)

The psalmist saw that the Lord God Almighty was his only hope to escape the rule of sin. We need to do likewise. We need to understand that we can’t discern our own errors or deal with hidden faults on our own. We can’t prevent ourselves from sinning willfully or from allowing sin to have dominion over us.

Like the psalmist, we need to turn to the Lord and ask for Him to have mercy upon us and forgive our faults, repenting of our transgressions. We then need to allow Him to direct our steps according to His word, will and way, submitting fully to all He commands. We need to bow before Him, surrendering all we are to receive all He is.   

There is no option here. We can choose who we wish to rule over us, picking sin or God, opting for Satan and his desires or the Lord and His.

The former leads to death and destruction, the latter to eternal life.

So who will you allow to rule over you?

My prayer is that you will choose the Lord.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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