Don't Let Sin Reign
Lenten Devotional Series Day 38. Today’s meditation is on Romans 6:11-14.
In today’s reading, the Apostle Paul says, “Don’t let sin reign.” Does this strike you as unreasonable and absurd? In reading this, I feel as if I have been ordered on a solo mission across the Sahara Desert, with two stipulations: 1) I must not get thirsty, and 2) I must keep a chipper attitude. In other words, it’s as if I’m commanded to do the impossible while avoiding the inevitable, and failure has eternal implications.
How could I possibly not let sin reign? At the heights of harmony at work, I’m fighting with my housemates. When I’m a selfless martyr at home, I’m obsessing about acceptance and performance in my career. This struggle with sin has been my experience as long as I can remember, and yet I can be so naïve in my efforts to overcome it. Paul says, “Don’t let sin reign,” and so I strap on my backpack once more and set out alone across the desert. Surely this time I can do it.
Sound familiar? We all do it. When will we ever learn? The only way to break free from this cycle is to turn to Christ. I don’t have to defeat sin on my own. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over sin and death! By his grace, in intimate dependence upon him, I will see the end of sin’s reign in my life as well.
But it’s my problem, and I would much rather fix it myself. Teamwork is time-consuming and inefficient. For those who work long hours and struggle with exhaustion, relationships take away time that we simply do not have. It’s easier not to engage in community. It’s simpler to keep moving, without talking with anyone, whether at the end of a church service, or with my co-workers when I arrive at work, or with my housemates at the end of the day. The same thing goes for relational time with the King.
Paul says that we should consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” This is the end of self-reliance. Our sympathetic High Priest, the God-man who understands our brokenness, is the sole source of our strength. He invites us to depend upon him, especially through communion with his body, the people of God.
Sin reigns whenever we take the easy way out, holding people at arms length, disengaging. The Lord warns us: For your own good, don’t close yourself off. See, when we separate ourselves and hide who we are, it makes it so much easier to hide our sin as well. In isolation, one’s selfishness doesn’t lessen; rather, it simply grows in secret. Never having to interact, never having to share, sin only tightens its reign over us.
“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed,” James 5:16. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2. The reign of sin is inevitable, and its defeat impossible, so long as we go it alone. But God’s grace frees us from independent survival, giving us open access both to intimate communion with God, and deep fellowship with other believers.
Here, in the midst of the desert, is an oasis flowing from Christ’s finished work upon the cross. Together, the body of Christ is revived as we share our burdens, rejoice in our blessings, confess our sins and lift one another up in prayer. Only in communion with the Lord and with one another do we accomplish the impossible, avoid the inevitable, and see an end to the reign of sin.
Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Then ask God to give you the courage to forsake your own self-reliance and genuinely depend upon him. Give thanks for the finished work of Christ, through which we have the hope of overcoming sin and death. Ask God to show you how to bear the burdens of others today, and to live in openness with others, sharing who you are, while showing genuine interest in them. Then finish with the Lord’s Prayer.
Collect of the Day. Almighty God, we ask you mercifully to look upon your people; that by your great goodness they may be governed and preserved for ever, both in body and soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.