Boats On The Hard

Romans 6:12-14 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, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

My boat sits on the trailer in the garage. Repairs are going slow. What looked like a simple project of changing out exhaust system hoses has proven to be more involved and time consuming that I anticipated. While waiting patiently for additional parts to arrive, I have been pondering how a boat "on the hard" is like an incomplete acceptance of grace.

Moving an on life can be anything but easy. For many, the patterns of the old self remain steadfastly in control of all that they are in the future. A person would seem to be firmly tied to the dock, up on the trailer, or on blocks in the drydock. There is no ability to get underway in this condition. The past holds you captive with a seemingly inescapable grasp.

In our lives nothing could be further from the truth. Each and every one of us has the ability to change and move forward. We only empower the past by letting the past rule our future. In the case of sin, Romans 6:12-14 helps us to understand our true condition. We have the choice of letting, or not letting sin reign in our mortal bodies. Sin will try to make you and I obey its passions. Fortunately Jesus Christ changed all that. Grace rules over us, not the law. In Christ you and I have been purchased from the slavery and death that was in sin. When we remember our true condition, we can move forward. No longer are we up on a trailer, unable to navigate on the water. We are free to navigate with Christ at the helm. 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, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 

We can set aside the past. We can live under the grace that is freely offered by God our Father. Or we can chose to remain on the trailer, or on the blocks and never see what life really has to offer. I hope and pray you have chosen to get underway.

PRAYER: Lord, our lives seem complicated. All too often we get wrapped up in our past and let the past control the future. We set aside Your grace and latch onto our sinful and destructive past. We are lost at sea with no sight of land. Help us Father to remember that we are loved unconditionally by You. Help us to see the bright promise of the future You have planned for us when we hold onto Jesus. Guide us in His light O God. We ask this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.