Titled Property

Titled Property
by Jason Cruise

Imagine you're in church. The sermon is over. The pastor calls for the ushers to come forward and take up the offering. Finally, the bucket comes to your row. You reach in your pocket and pull out a paperclip. You place it in there along with a few pork rinds, and after a little more searching, you throw in a used ink pen you got from the office that was almost out of ink anyway.

Two common denominators are at play here. One is that you gave an offering that was worth absolutely nothing to you because it cost you nothing to give it. Second, and most striking, is that the offering is absurdly out of place. It just doesn't fit.

"... do not go on   presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but   present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." [Romans 6:13]  

The Scriptures speak of the same irregularity in the life of a follower of Christ who willingly gives an offering of themselves, literally, to sin. When a person is without Christ, living life under the power of their own authority, then that's exactly what's driving their every move. Self-gratification. Self-absorption. It doesn't matter the "act" of sin that's being performed, whether it's sex outside of marriage or greed from relentlessly pursuing a prize for which they have no need to possess; the "act" is irrelevant. A person demanding their own freedom from God's power in their life will get just that ... a life without God's power and the imminent danger that comes with it.

It's completely different with a Jesus follower.

At least it should be.

When a believer in Christ willingly sins, they violate the basic nature of what it means to be completely renewed and transformed by the power of His resurrection. As a blessed American, you'd never dream of offering something as inconsequential as a pork rind to Holy God as your act of worship. It's not worthy of Him. It bears absolutely no reflection of what He has done on your behalf to secure your eternal salvation. It shows complete disregard for the power He has given you to navigate life in the fullness of the Spirit.

When Paul speaks of no longer offering yourself to sin, he's speaking of the simple fact that you are not obligated to obey an unredeemed nature any longer. So why do it? 

No, in fact, don't do it. Don't do it at all. Don't give an offering of yourself to sin. Christ purchased your life. Christ ransomed you from the dead. Therefore, never, ever offer the devil property for which he has no owner's deed or title. 

---