![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Romans_6_1.jpg)
| “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” |
| —Romans 6:1 |
I have a dear friend who, by God’s grace and his own determined discipline, has freed himself from addiction to alcohol. It wasn’t that he was a falling down drunk. But, more and more, he found his life controlled by the desire to “take the edge off” with a drink of some alcoholic beverage.
Soon, almost every waking thought was directed toward when he would be able to have his next drink. And, once he began to drink, he had a very hard time reigning in the desire for more and more booze.
But then, one day he realized he had completely lost control of his life. He fell to his knees and poured his heart out to God. He sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous. Soon, he began to sense that, with God’s help, he had regained control of his own life. Today, he has not had a drink for nearly 40 years. His life has taken on new meaning and purpose. He has accomplished a great deal, not only in his personal and professional lives, but he has accomplished much on behalf of Christ and His Kingdom.
We may not feel enslaved to alcohol and drugs, but in many ways we become enslaved to sin. The ironic part of this, for those of us who believe in the life-transforming power of the living Lord Jesus Christ, is that Christ has freed us from the bond of sin. Why, then, do we keep re-enslaving ourselves to destructive behaviors?
The Apostle Paul wrote these words of admonition, as recorded in Romans 6:1:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have died to sin. As we begin this new day, isn’t it high time we started to live like sin has no hold over us? Should we not call a halt to continuing to repeat the same sins over and over and over again?
Let me be so bold as to suggest that this new day gives us an opportunity to make a conscious decision to stop ourselves from repeatedly sinning. We can ask for God’s help, through the Holy Spirit. We can fill our minds and hearts with positive thoughts that will steer us away from those negative thoughts that drag us into sin. After all, don’t we owe our very lives to Jesus? It’s time we took a stand against the sin that we allow to plague our lives.
