Myth, 133

 ~ Christians Must Accept Their Personal Bondage to Sin ~

 

Myth  ~  Being a Christian does not give you any advantage in how you live your life.

 

Realities  ~  (1) Like so many myths it contains a kernel of truth: it is easy to live life as you always have.  However, a Christian who maintains regular time in the Word of God and regular communion with God through prayer will over time have a substantial change of lifestyle. 

 

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [not bondage].  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

 

(2) If one has confessed Jesus Christ as their Savior, they have a responsibility to grow in their knowledge and in their lifestyle. 

 

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

 

Scripture  ~  “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:1-4). 

 

Quotes  ~  “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14).

 

Comment  ~  Like so many truths in Scripture we not only possess God’s power through the Spirit of God living in us but we also have responsibility to do our part with the power He has given us.  And when we fail, we are to confess it (1 John 1:5) and God will forgive us and give us power to move forward. 

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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