The Old Me is Gone...The New Me is Free

The Old Me is Gone...The New Me is Free

 

Romans 6:1- 14 (MSG)
“So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

^3-5 That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

^6-11 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

^12-14 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God."

 

I feel like this verse is the exact description of my new life.  It hit me like a ton of bricks! 

I think back to a little over a year ago and what was going on in my life.  Everything was so uncertain.  I didn’t like who I was; I felt empty and sick with despair of everything I had become.  I had absolutely no hope in anything.  And this was only a year ago, people!  I held on to that emptiness as if it was the only thing I had left.  Which doesn’t make any sense, because in reality, how could one hold on to nothing?  But I did.  I guess, in a way it all about my pity party.  I had struggled with not “feeling” anything as a teenager.  I felt no remorse, no sadness, no happiness, no love, and no desire to do anything with my life.  My life was governed by choices I had made and was still making.  I grew up in a Christian home.  I went to church twice a week, was involved in mission trips and church events.  But I never took any of it seriously.  I just played along.  Even now, it’s hard for me to admit that I just played along with the “Christian” thing.  But I did.  There was no real relationship with Christ because I was too busy thinking about myself.

When I was baptized for the second time last year, (yes, I did say second.  The first time was in junior high with a church event.) God really opened up my eyes to what I was living in.  I’m not sure if I really knew what I was getting myself into at the time of my baptism, but it would soon seep in.  My life, and direction that it was going, would do a complete 180.  Addictions were lost, feelings of despair were released, a new mindset was given and nothing could alter it.  Months later, I was blessed with a friendship that would teach me so many things about God and His merciful love for me.  It was such a treasured time in my life and I’m so thankful for it.  God was our firm focus and He revealed to both of us a different path.  But we were in His will and we knew that we had to let Him have it all, so we let go and allowed Him to work in both of our lives.  And, boy-oh-boy, has our God worked and is still working in both of our lives! 

God is real and He’s really inside of me this time.  Before, I couldn’t say that with very much confidence and do you know why that was?  Because I was still letting sin, “run little errands” in my life.  I still did certain things that would cause me to doubt God.  I didn’t give it ALL to Him.  I didn’t allow myself to be complete only with Him.  I looked for other things to complete me.  I looked for relationships, love, clothes, cigarettes, drugs, and things of this world, to complete me and make me “feel” something.  But it was never good enough, it never lasted.  Do you know why?  Because it was not God.  And still even to this day, I fall back to the things of this world to see if they can “complete” me and then I realize that it will NEVER satisfy.  It’s like having one of those “dope” (bang your hand against your head) moments.  That’s why I love God because His love for me never says, “Ok, Sarah, you’ve made far too many mistakes and you keep doing stupid things so I’m letting you go.” NOPE!  His love for me and for you is ENDLESS!  When does that end? 

NEVER! 

Woop Woop!

 Haha! 

 I’m so giddy right now; it’s not even funny… well maybe a little. 

So, now that I’ve gotten that all out maybe we should all go re-read Romans 6 and allow them to shed a new light on our lives. 
Do we still let sin run “little errands” in our lives? 
Is it worth it, living in that sin, or can we just let it go and let God have control?
It's time to really believe in Jesus, don't just say it, DO IT!