October 9, 2024
Praying Friends,
To rule oneself well can be a difficult task. Thankfully, as believers we are not left to do this alone; we have the power of the Holy Spirit and Christ within.
By “ruling oneself,” I mean mastering or controlling the impulses of our sinful nature. Sadly, sin has produced in us an antagonistic mindset against God and His ways.
Left to itself, our sinful self will choose what pleases self and not God. It would take the glory instead of giving it to God. It would desire self-comfort and ease over the will of God. It would tell a lie, for example, rather than the truth, if it would get us out of a jam. This is how sin works.
What we cannot forget is that sin is destructive. It will keep us from a close walk with God. It will ruin our testimony for God, and it will keep us from growing in maturity like God.
When Jesus died upon the cross, our sinful nature was crucified and was put away forever. Therefore, when we live in the fullness of that truth by faith (consider it to be true), we experience power over our sinful tendencies.
This is how Paul explains it: “In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ” (Colossians 2:11 NIV).
Circumcision was the ancient Jewish ritual of surgically removing the foreskin from a male child. It was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham when the nation of Israel was first formed.
Interestingly, when God’s people entered the land of Promise after 40 years of wandering in the desert, the males who entered had not been circumcised and needed to be. When the task was done, the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” (Joshua 5:9).
To “roll away” means to remove, just as physical circumcision did. So the physical act typified a deeper meaning. It meant that they were done with “Egypt-life,” which represented the world under the control of the enemy with its bondage and sin. They had entered a new life with God and the old was forever gone.
When you bring this example into the spiritual realm today, into what Paul was teaching the Colossian believers and us, it is that at the cross, Jesus removed the sin nature by being crucified to it. He put it to death. He cut it off. He removed it once and for all.
Paul’s words in verse 11 say that we too were cut off from this sinful nature when we believed in Him. It wasn’t done by human hands, meaning it wasn’t physical circumcision, but a spiritual removal of the sinful nature.
He was crucified to sin so that we might enjoy living that kind of “cut off” life each day. It doesn’t mean that we will never sin, or that we are somehow better than others, or that we are perfect. What it means is that sin will not have the power to control or to rule over us as it once did. This is living in the enjoyment of life in Christ.
This is what living by faith is. It is considering what Christ did to be true and then living that out in our daily lives. We who believe in Jesus can give God the glory in any situation, rather than taking it for ourselves. We have the power to do the will of God and deny self, instead of opting for self-preservation and comfort. We have the strength through the Spirit within us to tell the truth instead of a lie even if it is difficult to do so.
This is living the crucified life, or the circumcised life, or if you will, the Jesus life, and it is the only way to truly master your inward sinful desires. It is a life that is abundant, which honors and pleases God.
May we all learn to live in His power and not our own. Thank you for praying for our prodigals and for revival among us.
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel
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