Guarding Against The Identity Theft of Licentiousness

Grace is no more a license to sin than electricity is a license to electrocute yourself.
~Dr. Paul Ellis

… If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ Who is your Life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry…. Paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Colossians 3

Oh beloved, we have all been there. Often it is a circumstance gone badly, or a relationship gone even worse. We get stung. We get hurt. We get injured.

So, as we curve in on ourselves to lick our wounds, we may rightly say that something is unfair. Ask any soldier who has had a bullet fly by his head. It’s not fear they feel. It’s anger at the injustice of an enemy trying to kill him. However, we can also plunge into a twisted sense of self-righteousness. Rather than pursuing peace, we seek revenge.

While sometimes aimed at others, most of our vengeful actions can get directed right back at our own souls. In our hurt, we say, “Well, that person hurt me! So I get to: (fill in the blank, each of us has something we are tempted towards, other than God)…”

But, as each of us know, this selfish license we grant ourselves, never gets us what we really want. We only end up more deeply wounded. Why? It is simple: Our lives are no longer our own. Our old life is over, and our New Life is within a Savior Who is all Light, and no darkness; Who is all Life and no death.

So, do you find yourself giving your old man a license to sin? It can happen. But when we do, we become thieves of our true identity. Instead, may we look away from the rotting corpse of our former lives, and look up towards The One Who Is Life Himself!