Awhile back I read an article about Clint Eastwood and Toby Keith golfing together at a charity tournament. Impressed at how active Eastwood was at age 88, Keith asked him what his secret was.
The actor replied, “I just get up every morning and go out. And I don’t let the old man in.”
The Bible talks about not letting the old man in as well, but it isn’t referring to age. Rather, it’s talking about the sinful nature that we all have. The apostle Paul wrote, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:6 NKJV).
In his epistle to the Romans, Paul makes a case for the fact that everyone has sinned. Moral people sin. Immoral people sin. And religious people sin. We all fall miserably short. But Christ died for our sins, and if we will turn from them, then he will forgive us.
Salvation, or regeneration, happens in a moment, bringing a sinner from spiritual death to spiritual life. In contrast, sanctification is an ongoing process in which we break free from the power of sin. And Paul shows us how this works in our lives.
The Christian no longer has to be under the power of sin. Paul said, “For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (verse 7 NLT). We know that we’re free from the power of sin, yet we still sin, and we don’t like it.
Maybe you’re thinking, “There just really is no way to overcome it. I’m always going to be this way.” But that is not how a Christian should think. Jesus Christ can break the cycle of sin in our lives.
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I know this from experience. I had an alcoholic mother who was married and divorced seven times. My life could have so easily gone the wrong direction. But I believed in Christ, and he changed the course of my life. Jesus Christ frees us from the power of sin.
However, some people use God’s forgiveness as a license to sin, thinking they can continue to sin because God will forgive them. Yet the Bible says, “When people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 NLT).
If you deliberately and continually sin without any remorse or desire to change, then I have to wonder whether you are a child of God. Every believer still sins. As 1 John 1:8 points out, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (NLT).
Here’s what the apostle Paul was saying: As Christians, we don’t have to be controlled by sin any longer. We have been freed from sin. Jesus issued his own emancipation proclamation from the cross of Calvary when he cried out, “It is finished!” (see John 19:30). The power of sin has been broken in our lives.
I remember hearing about a girl who had a chicken coop, and one day she noticed that one of her chickens wasn’t walking normally. When she picked up the chicken to take a closer look, she realized that one of her elastic hair ties had fallen into the coop. It was wrapped around the chicken’s foot.
Then a strange thing happened. After she removed the tie from the chicken’s foot, the bird continued to walk around the same way. It had been freed from the crippling effects of the hair tie, but it didn’t even realize it.
We can be that way when it comes to sin in our lives. We need to start living like we’re free from sin’s power, whether we feel it or not. We need to believe the promises of God.
Paul went on to say, “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (Romans 6:13 NLT). We need to yield ourselves to God.
The Bible tells the stories of people who yielded their bodies to God. For example, God used the rod in Moses’ hand to conquer Egypt. He used the sling in David’s hand to defeat Goliath and, ultimately, the Philistines. And God used the mouths of the prophets and the apostles to change the world.
It all begins with command central, our minds. Wherever you turn your head, your body will follow. You can’t stop random, evil thoughts that come knocking on the door your imagination, but you don’t have to invite them in. You can reject them.
Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NLT).
The best way to avoid going backward spiritually is to keep moving forward. The Bible says, “Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16 NLT).
Maybe there’s a sin that has a stranglehold on you today. You’ve tried to break free from it, but you’ve failed again and again. Or maybe you’re dealing with the repercussions of some bad decisions you’ve made.
You need Jesus. And when you invite him into your heart, he will forgive you of your sin and give you a fresh start. That is what the Bible means when it talks about being born again. And you can’t be a Christian without being born again. If Christ is living inside of you, then you can be free from the power of sin.
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