A couple of years ago, I spent time in Japan. It was a foreign place to me. The culture is so different from Australia. I could not speak the language, I had little understanding of Japan’s geography and history, and things just happen differently there. The whole time I spent in Japan, I felt a bit strange — a bit out of place.
In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that we should feel the same way about sin. He writes this in chapter 6:
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Paul is reminding the Christians in Rome that they are joined with Jesus — they are united with him. Christians and Jesus are one; they are inseparable. What happened to Jesus has happened to them. So, when he died because of sin, a Christian died to sin. Christians have inherited citizenship in Heaven, not because they have earned it or deserved it, but because Jesus has won it for them.
Sin is a foreign country to me. It feels uncomfortable and strange. Sin is not my home, so it is not where I should stay. I should not want to keep on sinning. My desire should be to live in a way that is consistent with this inner truth — to make sure that what is true on the inside is reflected by the way I live my life. Sin makes big promises to us, but true life is never found there.
Following Jesus and saying no to sin can seem a little daunting. However, we are not left to our own devices or strength. God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of God in our lives. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is described as enlightening us, regenerating us, leading us to holiness, transforming us, and giving assurance. God gives us, in abundance, what we need to follow Him — and it always leads to true life, or as Paul describes it, that we may “live a new life” (Romans 6:4).