Freed from sin
When God looks upon Christ he sees the sinner,
And when he looks upon the sinner he sees his own dear Son. Martin Luther
Read Romans 6:3—11
Let me look back upon this day. I’m sure I’ll find in it reminders of my sinful nature. There’ll be something thought or done that falls short of the glory of God. If not, there’ll be something left undone that the man or the woman of God would have done. Yet I’m told that as a baptised believer Christ’s death counts as my death to all sin, that sin might be destroyed, that I be no longer its slave, and that I actually be free of sin. That’s not my experience. Free of sin’s outcome, yes. Of its condemnation, yes. But of sinning itself, no. Perhaps, just perhaps, this should be my response: whenever I make confession of my sin I shall be wholehearted about it. I won’t have any pretence that I’m not so sinful these days. I will confess it to God, and I will say of it what God says of it: it simply has no place in my life. It is illegitimate. I’m dead to it. Even though it’s a fact, it’s not right that it is. In fact, sin is actually… wrong!
Prayer
Father, dear Father, you are the one who sees my sin for what it truly is. You know the depths of destruction to which I fell when I fell short of your glory. You did not trivialise sin in the way that I do. You do not excuse it. You took it to its conclusion when your Son cried on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ All so that you could pronounce over me, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’[1] I thank you for seeing me remade, glorified, complete, and for not counting my sins against me.
[1] Romans 8:1