Sunday, April 10, 2011 - Skeletons in the Closet

      Closets are no places for skeletons and frankly, if I had one in my closet I would call the authorities to remove and dispose of it. Imagine forgetting the creepy thing was in there and swinging the door open to see its big empty grin. Picture the house company-ready and the candles lit when a guest mistakes the closet door for the bathroom door. 
     The scariest things in our closets aren't skeletons from our past but the living, lusting sin we try to control instead of crucify.      

 "I 
have been

 crucified

 with Christ

 and I no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me. The life I now live

 in the body, I live by faith 

in the Son

 of God, 

who

loved

 me and 

gave

 Himself

 for me." 

Galatians 2:20

"For we know that our old self was crucified with Him

so that the body of sin might be done away with,

that we should no longer be slaves to sin

 because anyone

who has died

 has been

freed 

from sin." 

Romans 6:6
We crucify and bury sin to keep from being slaves to its creepy, empty control. We're not to imprison it until we think it's been rehabilitated enough to let it out on parole. We'll never be free from the spiritual damage this prisoner causes us if we pet and coddle it by occasionally feeding it or letting it out to exercise; we're to put it out of its misery and ours and to live free from all the damage it causes us and ours.

". . . it is the great moment in my life when I do decide that just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world, so sin must die out in me, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified." (Oswald Chambers)
Almighty God, help us hate sin and what it does to us as much as You hate it.  Search our hearts and show us the sin we try to hide for what it is. Please, help us see what we're attempting to justify or rehabilitate as You see it. We fool no one and we rob ourselves of the freedom of a life of faith. Do Your spring cleaning in our lives and open all the closets. Let nothing remain in us but Christ alone. We praise You for doing in us what we can't do for ourselves.
In the Name of Jesus Who died to unlock sin's power over us! 
Inspired by My Utmost for His Highest
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