“Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Romans 6:12-13
If Jesus lives in the heart, He should also have the key to every room in the house.
Holiness.
Somehow we’ve gotten to the place where we view that as some type of checklist of “Do’s and Don’t.” Yet, in doing so, fleshly pride creeps in, causing us to feel good if we abstain from certain things and critical of those who don’t.
But, that’s not what’s being described in today’s Manna.
Instead, in reading all of Rom. 6, we see that true holiness is a total transformation of every part of our being—in our thinking, speaking and doing. And, our failure to see it as such evokes the response of “God forbid!” (vv.2, 15).
True salvation and total surrender go hand-in-hand. The Lord God didn’t send Jesus to the Cross to give us partial salvation—i.e., freedom from the penalty (“wages”) of sin, but continual enslavement to the power of sin. A thousand times no!
No, Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection produces a radical transformation in the life of all those who believe. No longer can the truly born-again believer “continue in sin that Grace may abound” (v.1); instead, he realizes he has been “buried with Christ” and has now been “raised with Christ to walk in newness of life” (vv.4, 8).
That’s why we must “reckon (Grk. ‘logizomai’—‘take an inventory, estimate, conclude, esteem, consider it so, etc.’) ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (v.11). No longer can we continue our old lifestyle of sin, where we walk and talk the same—not when we profess to be a Christian (“little Christ”).
Simply put, when Christ comes to live within our hearts, He demands to be Head of the House. As someone said, “He’ll be Lord of all or He won’t be Lord at all.” Thus, the person who professes to be a follower of Christ, but is still bound by old, sinful habits has either not experienced the new birth or is presuming on God’s Grace—which is very dangerous.
The key to true surrender is “obeying from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto us” (v.17). It’s realizing we are “servants of righteousness” (v.18) and are to “yield our members (every part of our being/body) as servants to righteousness unto holiness” (v.19b). His “freeing us from the strongholds of sin enables us to produce the fruit of holiness as evidence of His everlasting life within us” (v.22).
Why not pause right now, look at your hands and say “Lord, I give You my hands today as instruments of righteousness”? Then, look at your feet and do the same. Then, bow your head and say, “Dear Jesus, I want you to have every part of me today to use as You see fit. Thank You for saving me and using me for your honor and Glory and others’ good.”
By Tom Smith Morning Manna August 18, 2010
