A couple of years ago I sent Bryan to the store with a list of groceries to get. He likes the list to be very specific so he doesn't mess up. When he came home and we started unpacking the bags, I asked him where the pot roast was. "Honey, did you get the meat?" He of course was defensive, "Of course I got it. I followed the list to a T." We went through every bag, looked in the car, and around the house. We even called the store to see if he left it at the checkout. The pot roast was nowhere to be found. Although we were perplexed about where it went, we felt we had given enough effort in trying to track down. Case closed.
A few days later we noticed a distinct foul smell in the car. It stunk. We blamed our middle son's shoes. We blamed the petrified chicken nugget lost in the seats. But by the end of the week the smell was unbearable. Maybe a small animal crawled in and died without us knowing. Bryan fed up with our car smelling like death, decided to investigate further. About a half hour into tearing apart the Excursion, he came into the house holding his nose and a plastic bag. "Kimberley, I found the pot roast!" Seven days in hundred degree weather plus baking inside our closed vehicle, equals one horrible smell!!!!
Sin is kind of like that too. The longer you ignore it the more it starts stinkin'. You might give a little effort in trying to seek out the sin that's rotting away, maybe look under a few car seats, give a halfhearted attempt in searching out the root cause. You might also try to place blame on someone else, like we did on Landen's shoes or the chicken nugget. "I wouldn't be doing these things if so and so______(fill in the blank). You may call a few people for help or justification. Trust me you can always find someone else to agree with you that your sin is not that bad. Finally, most of us just give up. Breaking the cycle of sin is hard. It becomes easier to accept the sin in our lives and pretend that it really doesn't smell. But just like the pot roast, sin left unattended starts stinking up.... our souls. "For the wages of sin is death.." Romans 6:23.
This can't be more explicit, the intent is pretty clear. Sin equals death. There is no way around it. There is no way to stick our head in the sand and pretend it won't happen to us. There is no way to escape the consequences. Sin separates us from the one who created us.
What do we do? How can we be reunited with God? The answer? Jesus.
"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." Romans 6:6-7.
He came to set us free so we are no longer slaves to our sin. But you must choose. You cannot serve two masters. Either you are living in your sin and doing nothing about it or you are living in the victory and power of Jesus.
"Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living." Romans 6:10-11
