Romans 6:1-5 in both The Message and TNIV
(Today's post was adapted from our Reading Plan)
At the end of his football career, the great Emmitt Smith left the Dallas Cowboys to play for the Arizona Cardinals. After a very long career with the Cowboys, everything changed when he moved to Arizona. On the day of his first game with the Cardinals, Emmitt arrived to the stadium and went to the locker room. He got dressed and went through all of his pre-game rituals. As the team was introduced, they ran out on the field clad in their red shirts, white pants and white helmets with the Cardinal on both sides. When Emmitt’s name was called, he came running out on the field. Expecting to hear cheers for the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, he heard what seemed to be laughter coming from the 75,000 fans. Then some of the laughs turned to boo’s. Emmitt ran out in his silver pants, white shirt and silver helmet with a star on either side! That’s right, he dressed in what he knew and what was familiar...in his old uniform!
Okay, this didn’t really happen. It’s ridiculous to even think about it that way, but we see it every day with people who have left their old way of living to follow Jesus’ way. We have changed
“teams” but we still continue to dress in our old uniforms and run our old plays. Our baptism is a picture of leaving that old team and putting on the uniform of our new team...for good. We have entered into a new country of grace. We live in a new way!
Why do you think think we go on sinning? Is Christ's death/resurrection really powerful enough to defeat our sin or will we just have to live with it until we die? What does premeditated sin communicate about the seriousness of sin? Do you have areas in your life where you keep wearing your old uniform and keep running your old plays?
Really, I think there are two types of sin - the sins that come from human nature and the sins that come from some sort of addiction. I feel that the sins that come from addiction (be it gambling, infidelity, drugs, alcohol, shopping...) come essentially from us trying to fill a hole, and when we find Jesus, HE instead fills that hole. It's easier (well, easier is maybe not the right word) to stay on Team Jesus when recovering from that type of sin because its a big blatant choice thing. And often we turned to Christ in the first place to help us fight them.
ReplyDeleteBut it's the other sins that I think make it hard to remember to wear the right jersey... Like gossiping - there are nights when I'm processing my day at work that I realized I spent a good portion of it gossiping. That's a big deal, but its also a sin that I commit without always recognizing it.
I don't know. It just seems like there are a lot more testimonies where people say they were an alcoholic until they found Christ and that with Him, they beat it and never looked back. Rarely do you hear a testimony where someone stands up and says I gossiped all the time and I couldn't beat it until I found Christ...
Any way. Not sure that my thoughts came across clearly.
You are right, we hear a lot of "big" testimonies. I sometimes wonder though, if the enemy likes that we categorize our "sins" this way. As long as he can keep pulling the wool over our eyes about things like gossip, slander, gluttony, pride, malice, etc., then he can keep us from being who God really wants us to be.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we need to hear more stories about how people have overcome some of these "lesser" sins. Maybe we should be talking more about them because they might be the sins that are keeping the Church from being all she can be in our world today.
I thought of Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption.". He had been in prison so long that he didn't know how to live free. Freedom itself felt like a burden, so many unknowns. But prison was familiar, and in prison he had an identity and even status.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=7tkzc983aE0&feature=YouTube_data_player
When freedom is just a dream or fantasy, it has amazing appeal. But you can find it scary and unfamiliar if you've been living in prison for a long time (habits, addictions, etc.). There is no doubt that we often choose our old ways because they are familiar and we know our bearings. It takes courage to live free.