Steven A. Bush - April 17, 2016
What a Ghastly Thought!
In Romans 6:1-2, Paul asks: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? In the next verse he answers his own question: "By no means!" The KJV says: "God forbid!" The NASB says: "May it never be!" And the JB Phillips translation exclaims: "What a ghastly thought!" In other words, should Christians continue doing the horrible things that put Jesus on the cross in the first place in order to keep experiencing His undeserved love? NO! is the emphatic answer. But do believers still wrestle with indwelling sin? Do we still stumble and fall? Every honest believer must say yes. But here's some better questions: Has our deliberate pattern of sin been broken? Are we free from sin and free to obey God? Are we pursuing the passions of our flesh or following after the Holy Spirit and bearing His fruit? Are we still willfully and eagerly doing the things that put Jesus on the cross or are we now walking in ways that show His law has been written on the tablets of our hearts? God's grace places a believer in Christ and the Holy Spirit in the believer and that grace gives birth to genuine change. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18a affirms: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God..." And that reality is not ghastly--it's great, gladdening, glorious, and then some!