There is a stark contrast between our lives as Christians, and life former way of life (in sin) that we led before we were called to Him. As Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, whom he loved dearly, he reveals this undeniable need to progression in our life with Him. That we ought not still echo our former life, but that with all intentionality and with great haste, we should abandon it to its watery, baptismal grave. Washed clean by the blood of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, we begin our new life in Him immediately. Not out of strict religious observation, but because we understand that living people do not behave like dead people. We have been awakened to new life in Christ, and so we cannot and should not desire to still participate in those corrupted, dishonorable ways.

 

We are changed in Him, and are being changed by Him. This requires, at a fundamental level, leaving the old behind, as you cannot grow and remain small, neither can you mature and remain childish. If we have been changed by Christ, and His cleansing work, then the old must pass away. Indeed, we should desire to be rid of that stinking mass of death and decay as quickly as possible. In every moment where we catch a whiff of our former selves, our spiritual stomach should turn, and our direct reaction should be to get away from that stench, and to be refreshed and renewed in Jesus. 

 

Sin is an effective toxin. It blinds the user to its presence. It adds salt to an already thirsty mouth, and then only ever offers itself as the solution to the thirst it intensifies.

 

Sin lures.

Sin whispers.

Sin entices.

Sin isolates.

Sin lies.

Sin corrupts.

Sin destroys.

Sin kills.

 

Sin is a narcissist, gaslighting you, drawing you away from healthy relationships and right living. It tells you that it is right, and that you are wrong. It whispers to you that it didn’t make that promise you think it did. It refutes your arguments against it by questioning your character and sanity. It isolates you from truth, and only ever repeats its own clever story to you, a web of lies and deceptions, that ensnares and covers over the life you thought you knew. It leaves you feeling ashamed and alone. It removes all resources that might help aid escape, and threatens you, should you ever expose what it has done, that you shall be destroyed. It abuses you, creating a need within you to revisit it over and over again, enslaving you to its will. And in doing so, the captive soul becomes so entrenched within the lies, that they begin to defend their abuser, thus relegating themselves to say “I deserve this. This is where I should be.” And the cycle of harm continues on indefinitely. Dead and given to death, we are resigned to decay.

 

 

But in Christ there is freedom!

On the cross, Jesus killed sin, and bought our release from death, corruption, and hopelessness. Therefore we put away falsehood, lies, deception and death. Indeed, we deserved the death that our sin wrought for us, but in His grace, we have been given what could never be earned, nor purchased.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, in whom we are sealed for redemption, the new life promised us in Christ is given, and the shackles of our former prison slough off, falling to the ground in defeat. This life of freedom from sin is a marathon effort of daily surrender to the will of Him who saved us. We do not have it in ourselves to walk away from the former life on our own. Therefore we confess our daily need before the Lord, revealing our old habits as they crop up, and developing new ones as we are instructed by our Lord and Master. 

 

Each day is another step in this walk, and another step away from the home of our abuser and killer. 

Leaving sin behind requires intention and a heart that is constantly exposed before the Father. It is not a work we do alone, nor is it a work that saves us. Christ alone does that, and we are at a complete loss without Him. 

 

John Owen reminds us of the needed work of continual self-mortification when he said, “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
― Overcoming Sin and Temptation It is a daily battle to leave it behind. But Jesus Christ is our ever present help in times of trial and trouble. In Him, our victory is already secured, although the battle still goes on. 

 

And so the kind, tenderhearted, others-focused life of the Christian will allow new, fresh air into the lungs of the believer, dusting off death and decay, and being empowered by the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves among the living by the power of the blood “that flows from Emmanuel’s veins. And the sinner plunged beneath that flood loses all their guilty stains.” 

 

In Him, we who were so unworthy, dead to sin, and corrupted to our core, find new life, and the joy that salvation alone can bring. Let the Lord bring His healing to you today. Take a fearless moral inventory, asking Him to reveal the wounds, and to apply the salve of His grace. May we grow and find healing today in Him, and by His power in grace.