Lynn's Musings

It seems everyday on my walk I observe something that can be turned into a spiritual illustration. My Golden Retrievers, Bama and Dallas, and I were half way to the Marina and back when what did we see in the middle of the road a but a huge turtle. Bama saw it first. She ran over stuck her nose right down in the turtles' face and immediately the turtle snapped at her nose. She pulled back in a flash and never attempted to get that close again. I dutifully picked up the turtle, set it off the road, and let it go it's merry way.
I was meditating on the turtle when I realized at times I am not as wise as my dog. How often does sin bite me on the nose, and yet I go right back to it, even the same sin, over and over again. The Book of Romans teaches us ever so much about the nature of sin, it's hold on us, and what we are supposed to do about it as Christians. It (sin) never goes away in this life, but listen to this from Romans 6:19-23:

"19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (vs. 19-21)

Sin leads to death, but we have a new heart, and we now can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, say no to that death. That is really how I should look at sin-death. I can flippantly illustrate it as a turtle ready to take a chunk out of my nose, but it is actually a tomb, ready to bury me.
Now for the HOPE only found in Christ:

"22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (vs 22-23)

As that great 21st Century theologian, Sid the Sloth said, "I choose Life." And no snappers!

Still learning and learning and learning and learning till He comes....................Lynn