What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (NIV)

Sin sucks!    

Maybe instead of crassly saying “sin sucks,” I could say that sin resembles a non-Newtonian fluid. Before I explain, the kings have been in at Ship Creek this year! Did you catch one? While I have yet to catch a Ship Creek king, I did try this year. In order to fish Ship Creek, you have to deal with the mud, or glacial silt, which is actually called “glacial flour.” Glacial flour is created by glaciers grinding rocks into a fine powder that then gets wet. That mud becomes a non-Newtonian fluid (google it), which means that even though it becomes super-saturated, it won’t give much under a sudden impact (when you hit it, stomp on it, or pull hard against it).  But it becomes loose under pressure (when you step on it).  It becomes semi-solid again after something is stuck into it, and no amount of pulling will pull it out.  In a good case, patience and small movements will help, but in the worst case, the only way to get out is by getting help. In other words, it sucks.

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So it is with the quagmire of sin. The devos for the past couple of days have looked at Romans 7 as Paul expresses his frustration with sin. He says in verse 15, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Even Paul struggled with sin.  

I sin, you sin.  Great people of the Bible did too – just look at David, Moses, Paul, and Peter, to name a few.  

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Sin is real, but so is victory over sin.  Paul explains that victory over sin comes from God, who delivers us through Jesus. Just like salvation, it’s not of our doing.  I may struggle, but victory comes from the Lord.

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David’s writing aligns with Paul’s -- in Psalm 40, David writes that his troubles (which included sin) were like mire, and that God “brought [him] up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set [his] feet on a rock, making [his] steps secure” (Ps. 40:6). Remember that when sin sucks and you feel stuck, God is faithful. He alone can provide victory from sin’s grasp.

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How do you deal with sin? Do you surround yourself with temptation, or do you flee from it, like Joseph in Genesis 39?  Do you read your Bible and pray regularly – sin is weakened when we spend time with God.  Do you rely on your own strength to fight against it, or do you turn to Jesus in your time of need?  Do you fight alone, or are you regularly with other believers who can strengthen you?

Dear God, thank You for saving me from my sin, and for continuing to save me from my sins.  Thank you for Jesus, through whom You deliver me.  Help me to call on Him to save me. In His Name I Pray, Amen.