Sin! In Our Skin?
Photo image courtesy Teri Gasser
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
– Romans 7:24
Radical change began the moment I started following Jesus. My desires changed. I quit getting drunk and high. Despite my sexual drive, I stopped fornicating. I wanted to read the Bible for hours at a time. Before, I had no desire to read it. The Holy Spirit, the agent of change, took up residence in my heart and began cleaning the death and destruction of sin out of my life. I was a new creation. I started walking in all the good works Jesus gave me to do, like worshipping weekly with my new family, His family. Before my salvation, I seldom attended church. Now, when the saints gathered for prayer meetings, Bible studies, and two Sunday services, I was there.
Church helped me change, too. I remember a concerned sister pointing out how my tendency to dress scantily could trip up my brothers. I got it; I was dressing to entice men the wrong way. I started showing fewer curves. I focused on cultivating an inner beauty to attract the right kind of attention. Eventually, my transformation became less obvious.
Like infants, new babes in Christ grow miraculously fast. But newborns, both human and spiritual, never continue at their initial rate of growth. If we did, we’d all be physical and spiritual giants. As growth in child development slows, so does our spiritual growth.
At that point, I realized I wasn’t perfect yet. I discovered that I continued to sin in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. A year after becoming a Christian, I backslid, sinning in a way I thought I never would again.
Romans 7:4–25 helped me understand what was happening. As children of Adam, all people are born sinners. Like any other genetically transmitted deficiency, sin plagues us. Sin is in the skin we’re in. What hope do we have of living godly lives while Adam’s flesh clings to us?
Jesus! He is our hope to live a resurrected life free from sin and death. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” I love how a saint from old said it: “I ain’t what I ought to be. But I sure ain’t what I used to be!” In Heaven, we’ll sin no more. Until then, we have God’s promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Questions for Reflection:
1. When you’re convicted you’ve sinned, do you confess it to God and those you harmed, then rest in His promised forgiveness?
2. How can your struggle with sin motivate compassion, patience, and prayer for other sinners?
