"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God
in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11
What are the things that arouse the strongest emotions in you? Perhaps it is
a rude motorist who cuts you off in traffic. Perhaps it is the anger you feel
when you are wrongfully accused. Perhaps it is frustration that results from not
having enough money to meet perceived needs. When do emotions turn into sin?
Anger itself is not sin. Jesus had righteous anger when they sold doves in the
temple.
Whenever our peace is upset over events and circumstances in life, we have
moved past emotions into sin. Sin says that circumstances of life now dictate
anxiety, worry, fear, or anger. Consider the attributes of a dead man. He does
not get angry when slandered. He does not worry about the future. He does not
fear what can be done to him. Why? Because he is dead. Nothing can harm a dead
man.
Christ said we are to live as if we are dead - dead to the temptation of
responding to stimuli in our life that are designed to stir up the sinful nature
that resides in each of us. We do not have to respond to that nature; we can
consider it dead. Christ said He is enough. When He is our all in all, nothing
can move us. If we are moved, then Christ is not our all in all. This does not
mean we cannot have strong emotion about our circumstance, it means we do not
sin. Christ had strong emotions in the Garden of Gethsemane, yet He sinned not.
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