“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.
Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.
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