Listen again:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ro 6:23 ESV
So we can still earn death symptoms once we are born again, but unlike those who do not belong to Jesus, we can run to God and get back on track. The key to remaining in this New Life, instead of teeter tottering back and forth as way too many Christians do, is maturity in Christ. The more we grow, the quicker we can sense those death symptoms and come back to God and live according to this Eternal Life He has freely given us.
Unfortunately these death symptoms do not only come when we, ourselves, sin. Others can, whether on purpose or not, try to move us towards them too. For example, if I am in a good mood, but someone comes up to me and says something awful about me, if I am not paying attention to where my mind goes, I can allow those comments to quickly turn me downwards and I sense death again. The problem is sin is contagious. If someone else acts in unloving ways, we can catch these death symptoms from them. We must learn to take everything we see and hear to God too, to make sure it lines up with this New Life.
Then of course there is our real enemy, who is really evil. He is always trying to pop wrong ideas in our minds. Always trying to remind us of past failures or difficulties. Always trying to tempt us in one way or the other. I do not say this to discourage us, but to help us be aware that he is a bully, and we must hold on to Jesus to stay away from falling for his tricks. So if the key to remaining in this New Life is maturing in Christ. How do we mature in Christ?
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
5- Jn 10:10
6- Ro 6:23
<>< Peace, Diane
