Due to the fall of humanity when Adam and Eve sinned, we live with a sinful nature that affects how we think, feel, and interact with God and others. We are inclined toward sin, and we need powerful intervention through salvation and ongoing sanctification. Otherwise, we live in a “can’t stop, won’t stop” entanglement with sin.
This sinful condition is very different from the one I heard about growing up. After giving honor to God, a seasoned saint would proclaim at the top of her lungs, “I once was lost, but now, I’m found!” Though I get the sentiment and even affirm its use, what Paul describes in these verses is not a person who is lost but a person who is dead.
This is you and I, apart from God’s divine intervention. Elsewhere, Paul describes the effects of sin as slavery, binding people to obey the demanding power of sin (Romans 6:16). Sin infects all of us and often keeps us from seeing the depth of our need for redemption. That’s why Paul says that without Christ, we are “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
But God.
BUT GOD.
God, being rich in mercy, abounding in never-fading, never-ending love, intervenes. He sends His Son to take our place. Instead of pouring His wrath out on us, God pours out His wrath onto His beloved Son so that those who were once children of wrath can become children of God. And, in this, we rejoice! We have been saved from God’s wrath. But, friend, this is not all. The good news doesn’t stop there.
In Christ, not only have we been saved from God’s wrath, but we have also been saved from our once-dead state. Salvation is the gift that keeps on giving. You see, through His death, Jesus saves us from God’s wrath (justification), and through His resurrection, Jesus makes us alive with Him (regeneration)! He moves us out of the morgue of our “can’t stop, won’t stop” relationship with sin and into a life-giving relationship with Him. Where we were once unable to respond to God and His Word, we can now respond to Him through the death and resurrection of our Savior. What a reversal!
However, can I be honest? I don’t always live as though this reversal is true. While I find it easy to cling to Christ’s death, which saves me from God’s wrath, I sometimes find it difficult to cling to Christ’s resurrection, which liberates me from sin’s power. But these two salvific realities are what make the gospel beautiful. Jesus saves us to the utmost, delivering us from sin’s penalty and power. And soon enough, He will deliver us from its presence. Until then, our refrain is no longer “we can’t stop, and won’t stop,” but “Yes, Lord, yes!'”
I pray that I would fully live like I am a new creation
I love that God remakes us into the people he has called us to be. I love that sin doesn’t have the last word in our lives, but God does. God’s forgiveness, grace and sanctification does.
Great reading today and devotional, and seeing all the comments. I love our community. Thank you SRT for all your work you do! I got to listen to the podcast today during a dentist appointment, which let me tell you, was a wonderful, welcome, heart-filling distraction!
CeeGee- heart emoji
FosterMomma- Looks like it went well, Praise God!
Michelle- Love what you wrote!
Sharon- I too, love, love that song!!
Mercy- good stuff
Gwyneth22- I too am missing the absence of more posts. It’s so easy to get caught up in the business, I heard it’s one of satan’s best tools today.
When I think of my past sins they can really haunt me. I was drowning in a plethora of them. I am so thankful that our Heavenly Father will not only forgive me (hallelujah!), but He will throw them away. On a radio program today it was talking about David’s sin with Bathsheba, and how that one little look, turned to lust and metastasized so fast. One leads to more…And, even when we sin and repent, it still causes scars and consequences. God gives us the rule book, but it is for our benefit! I want to adhere because of His unfathomable LOVE for us. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe…Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. He washed me white as snow!
What true observation about the “won’t stop, can’t stop” pull of sin. It’s out of our hand, that’s why sin is a stronghold that the power of God can tear down. Thank you Yana!! Some key points stood out to me:
1. We are the workmanship designed onto good works. Not idle works, not dead works, not invaluable works…but GOOD WORKS. When plugged into the Vine, we produce good fruits/good works that last. If any of us doubts our works, you know sometimes I fall victim to this. On this journey walking on the narrow and difficult path, I might question my works. The devil usually reminds me that the works I do are unpaid, why do it? Why go the extra mile when no one is watching? But God sees, and that will bring a smile to His face when He looks down, that’s what I imagine in my head, and He might smile and think, that’s my girl…she goes the extra mile for My Glory alone. And that encourages me to continue on this narrow road.
2. The veil between us (once sinners) and the Holiest of Holy is Jesus’ flesh (Hebrews 10:20). Thank you Jesus for the torn veil, so now there is no separation with God Most High.
@SEARCHING: ❤️
@GWINETH52: yoke of despair and grief from bullies is real. Thank you for this insight. This is a yoke that can choke life and joy out of the victims.
@FOSTER MAMA: praying your the meeting you mentioned, and your upcoming absence, may God’s hand and His tender mercy be with you to orchestrate all the details of life for you.
Be blessed dear sisters.
Good Morning Shes. Sometimes as I read through the community comments, and see so few, I wonder where everyone has gone. Pulled away about our “stuff”? As the devotional reads “the can’t stop; won’t stop” life style of contradictions & distractions & addictions? I say this because I see myself. Falling back into a material world of pleasures. Devoting myself to the “story of me”. Standing proudly. Instead of kneeling before the Christ who died for me. The one who beckons, even me, back towards a loving God who has forgiven. Him telling me I can do the hard thing of defeating seduction of earthly “stuff”. Because Christ has already done the hard thing for me on the cross.
And let me say too, it’s not only the sins & transgressions I admit I commit. It’s the bullying & fault finding piled on me by others. When I absorb & believe & accept their accusations & admonitions . A different yoke of despair. But sin nevertheless. Allowing myself to be beaten down instead of lifting my head & acknowledging the truth & strength of the Lord. When it happens I try to remember this rebuttal: “Heavenly father, please work on me, with me, and through me”. Reveal and confess to any blindness or stubbornness that rest in me. Followed by “Heavenly Father, please work on them, with them, and through them”. Partnering with Christ Jesus. Reaching out toward the resurrected life in my life and theirs.
So, my sisters, I don’t know where you might cower or confess in the face of the divine invitation. All I can say, loudly yet reverently, whether you choose to “put pen to paper” and write on this prayer wall or not…Praying continuously for one another, either silently or aloud…
“KEEP COMING BACK!!”
Amen & Amen
Thank you Father for your never ending – never failing love, slow to anger, great compassion. BUT, GOD!! Hallelujah!!
Today’s reading just highlights how underserved God’s grace is- I am a sinner yet He choose me!!! Also today I am feeling the tug on my heart to forgive. If anyone is struggling with forgiveness I highly recommend reading Lysa TerKeurst “Forgiving what you can’t forget”. It really breaks down how because we are reconciled we should reconcile others!!!! Love love love this study! Thank you SRT and prayers to all you sisters!
Thank you Yana for today’s devotional! There is so much “richness” in the scriptures we read today! I am especially blessed to be reminded of God’s compassion, graciousness, abounding love and mercy that we read about in Psalm 103:8-12. Thank God – He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities!! I am ever so grateful to know that God not only has removed our sin, but no longer remembers it. How I wish I could forget my sins, the ones that the evil one always likes to throw in my face and remind me of my humanness. ..But God. But God. But God – who is rich in mercy, hallelujah! As I was reading these scriptures today it reminded me of a song we sang this past Sunday – In Christ Alone. Especially these lyrics: “Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on Him was laid, Here in the death of Christ I live.” Thank you, thank you Jesus!
Have a blessed Tuesday ladies! Praying for your requests as I come to them.