The scripture above is very instructive. To fully realize its import you’d have to carefully examine the construction. Imagine a father telling his young son,’’ don’t let that fellow in the house,’’ if the son is stronger than the fellow, he’ will gladly obey his father instruction. But if the intruder is stronger or more powerful, the son will wonder at his father instruction.

 

God would be remiss to ask us to do something He knew we couldn’t do. By saying to us, ’’don’t let sin reign in your mortal body,’’ He means that we have the power to stop sin from coming in to reign in our bodies. So, how do we stop sin in its tracks?

 

The answer is in the latter portion of our opening scripture and it says,’’ Neither yields ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.’’ The King James Bible uses the word ’’ yield’’ in this verse, but in several other bible translations, the word used is ’’present’’ from the Greek, ’’paristemi’’ which means ’’to present’’, like when you present document to be perused. It’s not just yielding as in a reflex submission, but a presentation which you choose to make. Isn’t this wonderful? This means you no longer have to struggle with sin and its effects if you’re born again. You can choose not present your body to sin, just as you can choose not to present it to cancer, HIV, stroke or diabetes. You don’t have to struggle with that terrible habit any longer; you can choose not to present your body to it. God has given you the ability.