Presenting Ourselves to God

God’s solution for the old nature can be summed up in one word: execution. Execution is what took place on the cross, when Jesus died and our old man was crucified with Him. How do we apply God’s solution in our own lives?

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:12–14, NASB)

Paul’s instructions can be followed only by those who have put their faith in Jesus and accepted His substitutionary sacrifice on their behalf. Someone once said, “If you ever want to get to heaven, you’ve got to learn to say no.” That is certainly the truth. Paul said that we must make up our minds and take a firm stand against sin. Both sin and Satan can tell the difference between when we are just saying words and when we really mean them. We must proclaim these words with conviction. Then, through faith in Jesus, our wills are liberated from the dominion of sin. It then becomes our responsibility to exercise our wills aright. God is not going to do that for us. This is the point at which we have to recognize our responsibility to monitor our wills.