Influence me

But don’t let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace. (Romans 6:12-14)

I know sin doesn't seem to just leave us alone - there are opportunities to compromise at every turn in the road and more than we might seem to recognize. When we welcomed Christ into our lives, we actually 'died' to sin - meaning that sin has no control over us any longer. We all know that temptation is real. We all realize the appeal of certain 'habits' don't just disappear. We have to put forth some effort to resist - to 'repel' sin's pull. What we might not recognize is that by offering our bodies to God daily, we are actually asking God to help us resist or repel those urges to do what we know we shouldn't be doing any longer.

The sad truth is that we actually 'offered' ourselves to serve sin. We might not realize how often we do this, like when we engage in just a bit of gossip about another individual. Is that information you are receiving honorable? Not usually. It isn't as though you have the best interest of the other individual in mind when you are taking it all in. You just want the juicy tidbits! We 'offer' ourselves to sin by listening when we have no business knowing what is being shared! Sin has a way of luring us in, creating a sense of 'ease' for the moment, but later we find that we aren't feeling all that good about what we just did, said, or are now thinking about. We let sin have an entrance and now we deal with the guilt.

What does it mean to offer ourselves to God. I can only share what it means to me, so let me begin by saying I offer my thoughts to him repeatedly throughout the day. I know how carried away my thoughts can get when they are left to their own devices and influenced by all the stuff around me, so I need his help to keep me 'on task' with him and able to resist those 'influential thoughts' that come at me. I also ask him to guide my words so they will be spoken in a gentle, healing, and wholesome manner. Does that mean I always succeed with my thought life and my speech? Not always, but I soon recognize when I am not in a 'safe place' with both areas because he brings little moments of conviction that turn me around quickly.

Perhaps offering ourselves to him means we take time to ask him where we struggle the most. I know my thoughts and words create the majority of issues in my life. So, I start there! Your struggles may be a little different, but you get the idea. When you offer yourself to him, he will show you where he needs to 'influence' your life the most - then all you need to do is allow him to do it! Just sayin!