One of my favorite drinks from Starbucks is an iced vanilla chai and I always ask for "easy ice" (Basically, I don't like watered-down drinks!). Either I get the vanilla chai or a white chocolate mocha. Normally, that's how I really begin my day; I'm barely awake before I have my first sip of caffeinated goodness (Bad Marie!).
That said, I can skip this part or vary my routine and I'm still a happy (although with much less caffeine in my system) Marie nonetheless. In some ways, I've become immune to the effects of caffeine; I can still sleep easily at night after a cuppa joe and I don't get jittery if I don't buy my favorite caffeinated drink.
One thing, however, that I've learned since becoming a Christian 10 years ago is that I will never be able be immune to sin.
There are folks out there that deride (Meaning: Express contempt for; ridicule. The Latin dērīdēre, which is "to mock", is where we get it.) the idea of sin, while others place heavy emphasis on the very thing that God despises and we are called to mortify (Meaning: To put to death. It comes from the Latin mortificāre, which we get "mortician".). I tend to fall under the latter category; sin is serious stuff!
(Perhaps I should have forewarned that this post is vocabulary-heavy; my apologies! I'll provide the meanings to some of the more unusual words. Both my husband and I tend to use words that many people don't know; it's a shame because English is quite a rich, if not interesting, language that has its roots in German, Norse and Latin!)
Christians are called to mortify sin, as if we're putting it to death; we are to despise it to death. We are to hold it in contempt and to loathe it with every fiber of our being (I don't think that there is any other English word that describes such loathing; "audacity" comes close, as does "repugnant" (BTW, that was originally Latin as well; we get "repugnance" from repugnantia.) and "hostile".)
Sin has no dominion (Meaning: Rule, control, ownership; Latin dominionem.) over us once we're clothed in Christ's righteousness (For we fall under Christ's dominion once the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and we are regenerated (Meaning: Re-create or make over; Latin regenerāre).), but it can still knock us off our feet and off of the path that God graciously carved for us; that's why believers are urged to pray, read the Word and to fellowship with other believers on a constant basis.
Sin may not own us, but we still feel the effects of sin from our first parents (Adam and Eve); we still suffer with diseases and ailments and we also die. It's how we deal with that sin (As well as the ones that we personally commit!) that matters. Do we turn it all over to a God that will forgive us yet calls us to despise the very things that we loved to do, or do we turn away from that God and continue to lead lives that displeases Him and depresses our souls?
Perhaps it's time to mortify sin (Put sin to death!) and to glorify God instead.
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