We live in an anti-world don’t we? You know a world full of resistance and opposition. Sometimes it feels like we live in a world where if we’re for, then we’re against. It’s hard to keep up with our antis sometimes. But, there is one anti we must devote ourselves to. Accepting Christ – Rejecting Sin. This anti, opposite, is one where there is no wiggle room. Jesus said you’re either for me or against me. Not just a smidge. All in or all out, opposites.
The Greek word for “opposite” is antikeimai. See that first part, anti, means opposed to, set against, resistant to. Think about that. In order to receive that cure, to be made healthy, we must do two things – accept and reject. Accept Jesus as the Son of God and reject our sin. We must be anti-sin. If we aren’t anti-sin, we are anti-Jesus. Ouch.
Galatians 5:16-17 say:
Live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit.
Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
The old sinful nature loves to do evil,
which is just the opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants.
And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires.
These two forces are constantly fighting each other,
and your choices are never free from conflict.
The Holy Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of our sinful nature. If we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives there is life! If we allow our sinful nature to control our lives there is death!
Accept the gift of salvation from Jesus, then do the opposite, reject the sin in your life. I am a sinner. A full-blown sinner. I don’t want to be, but I am. I often feel like the Apostle Paul who also struggled with opposites.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:18-25
Do you ever feel that way? You want to do right but you do the opposite? You don’t want to, but you do. You are not alone. We can all be Paul’s or Paulette’s!
The marvelous beauty in this is found in verse 25. Jesus Christ is the answer! We are accepted because Jesus was rejected. His death gave us life. Sit with that thought a minute.
God so loved the world that he gave His only son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Believing is life – perishing is death. Opposite.