The Essence and Power of Sin (Part 3)

Enter Mary.  The virgin who was to conceive and bear a Son, according to the Prophet Isaiah.  The angel Gabriel comes to her and announces the purpose of God for her life:  To be the mother of the Messiah.  Unlike the first woman, the first mother, she actively hears, believes, and receives God's word, saying in response:

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.

Her son, the Messiah, is born, just as God said.  30 years pass, and He is baptized.  God speaks from heaven to His Son, and God's Spirit descends from heaven upon His Son.  The Spirit fills Jesus and leads Him to the wilderness to be tested by the Devil, the serpent who deceived Eve, and took the birthright of the Adam.  But we see no passivity with the last Adam, the Second Man, the Christ.  The Devil doesn't come to Jesus.  Jesus goes to the devil.  And Jesus actively defeats the enemy by actively resisting the words of the enemy with God's words.  He actively chooses to believe God's words and refuses to believe the devil's words, unlike the first Adam. He takes the dominion God gave Him, and doesn't fall short of the glory of God.  In taking responsibility, being self-controlled, He defeats Satan, the world, and the flesh. 

The Spirit now shows me why self-control, or self responsibility is a fruit of the Spirit, perhaps the zenith of the fruit.  The Holy Spirit, when He leads us and fills us, doesn't possess us or control us like demons control and possess people, as it is written,

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
To follow the Spirit, we must actively and freely choose to follow His leadings.  He will not coerce or manipulate or dominate us.  This does not reflect the nature of God, who is neither coerced nor manipulated, so we who are in His image must act as freely as He does when we follow His Spirit.

But when we sin, we refuse to take responsibility or to control ourselves.  We become passive.  We passively receive lies, instead of actively receiving and believing only the truth of God's word, which alone sets us free.  Jesus said those who sin are slaves of sin, and I now see why.  The act of sin is an act of passivity.  A refusal to take responsibility before God our Creator.  We are responsible to be what He made us to be, and to do what He made us to do.  When we sin, we refuse this responsibility.  The essence of our sin is not listening to God, and the power of our sin is passively listening to anything and anyone else.  Refusing to control ourselves, refusing to actively listen to God alone, we sin. 

This can change right now, if you choose.
From now on, you can choose to actively and responsibly listen only to God.
You can actively refuse to listen to anything and anyone else, if anything or anyone else contradicts God's word.

But you must choose.
You must actively choose.
You cannot blame anyone from here on out for what you choose or refuse to do.

As God said to Cain, so I say to you:

Sin crouches at the door of your heart, of your will.
It desires to master you.
But YOU MUST MASTER IT.
And if God says you MUST master the sin that seeks mastery over you, then by God, you CAN master the sin that seeks to master you.

The choice is yours.