Footsteps #238

Individuals begin sinning with a kind of “shuddering awareness” of what they are doing, but as time passes they end up sinning without a second thought. Sinning becomes a way of life. The end result, as Paul points out later in Romans, is that a person under the rule of a depraved mind becomes a slave to sin.

Thus we can use God’s gift of free will in such a manner that in the end it obliterates our free will and we become slaves to sin. And as Eve discovered, sin is always a lie. Though the serpent may have promised her that if she rejected God and His will, her eyes would be opened and she would be like God, the end result was not divinity but death. Sin promises a fuller life and happiness but delivers ruination. The prodigal son discovered that. He set out on a path of freedom, “to live it up”, but he ended up drooling over pig slops. Fortunately, “he came to himself” and consciously decided that he was better off in his father’s house (Luke.15:17).

Romans is not a letter about sin, but about salvation. Paul is describing what God wants to save us from if we will accept His offer. Just as rejecting Him led to the downward steps to sin, so accepting Him leads to righteousness. That’s the message of Romans. That’s the message our world today so desperately needs. And that’s the message that I need to grasp in my own personal life.

Like a medical textbook, Paul he has been describing the symptoms and the results of sin, “Those who do such things deserve to die.” (v32.) Fortunately, like a medical textbook he will also present God’s cure. Life on earth has one great certainty – it will end! To quote an Arabic proverb, “The old black camel stops at everyone’s door.”. Just wait. Your turn will come. Death is very fair–1/person. V32 is similar to the stark simplicity of Rom.6:23. It is also in agreement with God’s warning to Adam in Gen.2:27. Death is the end result of sin, of separating ourselves from God, the source of all life.