Romans 6:1 Don't go back in the water!
Imagine a sign on a
beach saying ‘Do not Swim, Shark-infested Waters!’ but you go swimming anyway.
Whilst you are enjoying yourself in the water you notice a shark fin nearby. As
the fin moves closer you catch a glimpse of the shark with its teeth on show
ready to attack you as you paddle helplessly. All of a sudden, a man observing
from the shore runs into the water and swims into the path of the shark. The
man is violently attacked instead of you and you are saved. Would you go go
back in the water the next day? Of course you wouldn’t. You owe this man your
life for saving you in those shark-infested waters. It would be an insult to
the man and the sacrifice he made to you if you were to go back and swim in the
same spot.
So why as Christians do we continue to go back in the water?
There may be times when we fall in and have to get ourselves back out, but we
should never willfully dive into the water as many Christians are doing.

The biggest blow being dealt to the Christian faith right now is
Christian’s themselves.
Blame can lie with the church who are afraid to offend people by
preaching the true gospel. A church who advertises a relationship with Christ
as the best thing since sliced bread results in Christians kicking their faith
into touch when it doesn’t yield good results for them or when the going gets
tough (which is an inevitable part of life that no one can escape). But
ultimately, it is the individual who bears the responsibility for their actions.
Christianity is promoted as a no-works based faith. This is
true. However this does not mean that there is nothing to do in our faith. The
things of this world are in complete contrast to God. If we are saved and
desire to follow the Lord then it is natural that we do not associate ourselves
with those things. It is not that we have to ‘do works’, but rather, just as
the swimmer who has been saved from the shark, out of gratitude to the rescuer
he will have no desire to swim again in those waters. In the same way if we are
saved we will naturally desire to stay away from those things that are against
what God stands for and seek to do righteousness.

Mark 8:34 shows us how
extreme our call to God is as a Christian, “When He had called the
people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me.”
The root word for ‘deny yourself’ is ‘aparneomai’. As
Christians we have a cost to pay, that cost is our own selves. If we confess
Christ as our Saviour we cannot then continue to live with our own interests at
heart and live to please ourselves. There are sacrifices to be made. Nothing in
this world is free. We cannot continue to treat grace as if it is a common
thing. If you do this you run the danger of being ‘luke warm’. Revelation
3:16 “ So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
It is easy to confess Christ, but does your life match up with
your words? If you ever wish to know the power of God in your life, deny
yourself. For ‘when you are weak, then you are strong’ (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Look how serious Paul considers the Christian faith to be:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone
who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown
that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore
I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer
beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my
slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize.
The reason our church and our personal lives are in such a mess
today is because we are not treating our faith seriously. The Lord God is a
strict God.

Romans 6:12-14
12 Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do
not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to
life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of
righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because
you are not under the law, but under grace.
-BACChristian
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