Day 34: Romans 6:11

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”



Sin is a funny thing. If you give it an inch, it will take a mile. When you crack the door open to sin, then expect it to be kicked off the hinges.


Sometimes sin does it slow, creeping in without you really paying attention to it, and at other times sin will wage a shock and awe campaign, overwhelming you with its relentless attacks and incessant temptation.


Whatever the case may be, we let it. There’s no getting around that fact. We choose to sin; we choose to spit in the face of our great God, telling Him that our way is better than His.


In Romans 6, Paul is dealing with a particularly nasty group of people that believe that because they are saved from God’s wraith through Jesus Christ, they can go ahead and do anything they want. We call these guys antinomians. All right. I call them antinomians, you can call them wrong.


Paul is urging us to consider ourselves dead to sin (that’s the point of the second birth). We have to remember that when we say we are dead to something, we’re effectively saying that we don’t want anything more to do with it. We’re saying that as far as we’re concerned, it doesn’t even exist to us. That’s what Paul is saying our attitude should be.


Paul is playing on the theological argument that he just made in Romans 5; that through Jesus, God took us out of the kingdom of sin and death and made us alive in His Kingdom. So, if that’s the case, we are dead to sin.


As Christian leaders, we have to be careful. If we are being effective, working for the Kingdom, bearing fruit in our Christian life, then Satan is going to come knocking. Satan doesn’t mind an inactive Christian, because an inactive Christian isn’t a threat to Satan or his kingdom. But an effective Christian, well, he can’t have that.


When the devil comes knocking, consider yourself dead to him. Consider yourself dead to his temptations. Consider yourself dead to sin. You left the devil’s house a while back, and you really don’t want to go hang there anymore.


CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: A Christian leader will come under temptation and spiritual attack. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, resisting temptation as though we will have nothing more to do with it.


Here’s some verses to meditate on today: Romans 5


Prayer: Father, help me be dead to sin. I don’t want to walk in it anymore. Help me to resist temptation when it comes my way. Keep the devil from me, and help me resist when I am tempted to turn my back on you. I love and serve only you, Lord. In Christ’s name, amen.