Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

Be Totally Used Up

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God..." (Rom. 6:12-13). Yield yourselves unto God. What does that tell us? Sin can never overpower you. You might say, "I just couldn't help myself. The sin just overpowered me." No, it's impossible for sin to overpower you. Sin does not have dominion over you; you choose it. In every temptation, in every moment, there's a way of escape. When you have willfully sinned, you saw it coming and knew there was a time to escape, but you went past that time and sinned. You did it because you chose to, not because it has power over you. Even besetting sins doesn't mean they are irresistible; it means that they are constant, always there. That's something in you that you'll probably deal with the rest of your life. The way for you to live free and have this life of liberty is to realize that sin doesn't have power over you.

We are faced with choices to take fire into our bosom and then believe we're not going to be burned. The biblical principle is to abstain from the very appearance of evil. We know what's evil. We know what our weaknesses are. Abstain from those things. Flee youthful lusts. How do we do that? In the day that we are living in it's very difficult because everything is so accessible to us. We don't even go looking for sin anymore; we can have it delivered to our house. Somehow we think that we can just sit back, coast and trust in our knowledge of the Word. We think--like Samson--we can rise up whenever we want, shake ourselves, and fend off the enemy. We are being constantly vexed and seduced by the spirit of Sodom and the seduction of Delilah, instead of constantly seeking for ways that we can adorn ourselves with the full armor of God, deny the flesh, seek righteousness, and yield our members as instruments unto God. Do you want to know how to stay free from those other things? Get so involved in serving in the kingdom, so involved in serving other people, that you don't have time to think about yourself. Be used up on behalf of the glory of God. Let your energy be totally used up in other's riches and not your own. You won't have any time left for self.

"[Don't] yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God...and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Rom. 6:13). Don't say you can't do it. Sin is no longer the dominant force in your life if you are regenerated. "For ye are not under the law, but under grace. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death [devils, world, flesh, lust that bring death], or of obedience unto righteousness [spiritual mindedness, peace]?" (6:14-15) What are you choosing to do with your life? Many are reading the book, "Don't Waste Your Life." I want to tell you something. Being productive, creative, industrious, and successful in business, social, or the domestic is a waste of life if it's for yourself and not for the glory of God, by the Spirit of God. You could find the cure for cancer or solve the world's hunger problem, but if it's for the glory of man, you've wasted your life.

Previous Devotional | Next Devotional

• Subscribe to the Daily Devotional
• Unsubscribe from the Daily Devotional