The Sin-Man

"Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"

This morning, as I was waking up, it felt like Mr. Pollen was in my room with me, pollenating all over the place. One result - headache. A miserable thud in my head. When you have a headache do you usually end up telling someone? I do! So there you go, it saves me tweeting it or something.

While eating breakfast, I found some good stuff to read by a smart man - David Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I don't think a name could be more Welsh! The quote above screamed at me. I read it and re-read it over and over again. I started to write some things down with the intention of reading them back to myself loudly.

You're welcome to do the same, just promise me one thing: no accent imitation!

Inside my skin, there are three persons. There's the person I became when I accepted Jesus as Lord - that's the 'new me' (2 Corinthians 5:17). Then there's the Holy Spirit, who is God. God inside my skin - that's pretty neat! Then there's the 'sin-man' (Romans 7).

Paul says I am not to be made a prisoner of my flesh - 'flesh' is just another word for 'sin in me'. It's proud, like the devil. Out of that pride comes all the other sins like anger, lust, unforgiveness etc. It appears that the root of it all is pride. I want to run my life. I also appear to want to run the lives of others. I want God doing my will, not the other way round. In fact, like the devil, I want to be God - or rather 'the sin-man' in me does.

I inherited this dreadful part of my being so it's not my fault. However, when I let 'the sin-man' rule me, I am to blame. When I put it to death daily, minute by minute, through the help of the Spirit, I am living in grace and there is no condemnation for me.

So it's back to that good old word, discipline. I say good. It doesn't feel very good. I should never be surprised at the ugliness of the stuff that rises up inside of me, especially in my mind. It's demonic, mad, anti-Christ, ugly, vicious, cruel, irrational etc. It's sin. The sin-man in me. Sin is sin. The devil's sin and human sin are exactly the same. A wise man once said, "sin is a rebellion and a mutiny against God's legitimate authority." The sin-man hates God. The sin-man also hates me! He wants me to go to hell. Serious stuff.

But Josh! It won't last forever. Day by day, as I keep asking God to help me put the sin-man to death, he gets weaker and I get into the habit of righteousness. Rather than being appalled at the unpleasantness of sin in me as it keeps rising up, I should take a clinical attitude. It's like the stuff my body produces as waste matter. I have to deal with it in such a way that I can carry on being healthy and clean.

When I step into glory, when I die in Christ or when Christ returns, the sin-man stops. How I long for that day. That part of me will cease to exist. Hallelujah! Till He returns or calls me home, I must remember - it isn't my fault. I've inherited it from Adam. I must make it part of my daily spiritual hygiene discipline to deal with it. When it rises up, as it does many, many times a day, I ask God to help me put it to death. Every time. No matter how often. It's not me, it's part of the soul that I've inherited. My soul will live on forever in Christ but the sinful part of it one day will die and stay dead.

It's only the old sin-man. Everyone's got one. Don't be disappointed by it or feel condemned. Take authority over it and ask God for grace.

Amen.