115. HOW TO OVERCOME THE POWER OF SIN IN MY LIFE? – Victory over sin only through our Triune God (g)

(continuation of Meditation 114)

“All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (Romans 8:14*)

In our last Meditation we quoted Paul’s statement: “True circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit.” (Romans 2:29*)

However, for overcoming the power of sin in our lives, a change of heart to love God is not enough; it also needs a further transformation into Christ-likeness by God’s Spirit. What does that mean?

According to God’s Word, the heart is the centre of our inner being and the seat of all human power and potential. Here are some examples:

-- It is the source of our positive and negative emotions:

By mouth of the prophet Isaiah (8^th century B.C.), God warns those who reject Him and His coming judgment: “My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.” (Isaiah 65:14**)

-- In our heart dwell our desires and passions:

The apostle Paul tells the Christians in Rome: “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is that the Jewish people might be saved.” (Romans 10:1*)

The Book of Proverbs warns against adultery: “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.” (Proverbs 6:25**)

-- Our heart is the source of thought and reflection:

The apostle Peter rebukes Simon the sorcerer, saying: “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.” (Acts 8:22**)

-- The human heart is the seat of the will and decision-making:

Regarding the need to support poor Christians in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul suggested to the church in Corinth: “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7**)

We said earlier that our hearts need a radical change by God’s Spirit, called ‘rebirth’. Yet, it also needs a further Christlike transformation led by Him. Practically, it means that all the forces and functions seated in my heart and corrupted by my sinful nature need to be brought under the control of God’s Spirit. That process of the Spirit’s direction and transformation leads to an all-out war between my ‘new' heart and my ‘old’ sinful nature.

The apostle Paul points to that when he confesses: “In my inner being I delight in God's (moral) Law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” (Romans 7:22-23**)

Paul explains the same process in God’s reborn children in Galatia (a region in modern Turkey): “The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.” (Galatians 5:17*)

In Meditation 114 we mentioned that liberation from the power of sin does not simply happen to us. On the contrary, God’s Spirit includes us in this process. It seems that He operates from the starting point of our new, God-given change of heart that loves Him and our God-given change of will that obeys Him.

The fact that He is ready to engage us, who were former ‘enemies of God’ (Colossians 1:21), in this extraordinary transformation process shows how much God loves us.

It is a wonderful truth that the apostle Paul exclaims in Romans 8:13-14**: “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body (i.e. our sinful nature), you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (or: children) of God.”

The New Testament speaks a lot about this mortifying and transforming process, conducted by God’s Spirit, to liberate our emotions, desires and passions, our mind and will from the destructive power of sin.

In the next meditations we will see how the apostle Paul uses Christ’s death and resurrection as a metaphor for this liberation process.  

Translations: * New Living Translation; ** New International Version