You Have a Say in the Morning

Paul writes, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. The word reign points to a throne. Paul is saying that sin wants to rule you, to sit as king over your body and give the orders you then obey, and he is telling you that you have a say in whether it does. This might sound strange to a man who feels utterly powerless in the moment, and Paul is not pretending the passions are weak. But he speaks to men already brought from death to life, men in whom sin's reign has been broken even when its voice is still loud. Every morning you present yourself to someone. You hand your eyes and your hands and your hours over to be used, either as instruments of the old ruler or offered up to God. This is a small daily choice, made quietly, often before you feel anything at all. Before the day gets loud, present yourself to God. Give him the body that sin wants to command, and ask him to reign where it wants to.