Thursday, Feb. 4: You have the Holy Spirit, but does He have you?

When God has set us free from the bondage of sin, why do we continue to sin? Our sin nature remains, but we have a different calling. That calling is to serve a risen Savior. In that moment that we become His, we are given a new heart and given the awareness of sin in our lives. That doesn’t mean that all the sinful habits disappear instantaneously. In our walks with the Lord, He continues to change behaviors as we draw nearer to Him. Additionally, He reveals sin we were not even aware of!


John the Baptist put it very eloquently when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” While he was speaking of the difference between his own ministry and that of Jesus, the verse in John 3 also speaks of the presence of the Lord in each of our lives. Each day, we should be dying to self, which means that parts of our old natures will pass away as they are replaced with parts of the nature of Jesus. The longer we walk with Him, the more we should reflect who He is!


If we are forgiven, why should we worry about sin? Some professing to be Christians seem to wallow in the same sins they did before, as if they have a license to sin.


15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
(Romans 6:15-17)


Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to change them, instead, they wrongly believe that their sins cannot be conquered. That’s a weak excuse when God tells us in His Word:


I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
(Philippians 4:13)


Just because we have the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit has us! After the bonds are gone, if we sin, it is by choice. If all a sinner knows is sin, how can he choose anything else? The sinner has only one choice, but as Christians, we have the ability to choose either.


12 If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.
(1 Timothy 2:13)


I am so glad it is about His faithfulness, not ours. If we are His, He promises to get us back on His path. It’s hard to fathom how the Creator of all cares so deeply for each of us, but He does. Think of the degree He went to in order to demonstrate that. Jesus departed heaven, became a man, came to earth and died a brutal death at the hands of those He came to save. And still, He loves us. He will retain the scars of this world for all of eternity. In fact, someone said those scars will be the only man-made thing in heaven. Someday, we will see those nail-scarred hands!