The Truth about Sin

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."
Romans 6:11&12 

It is no secret that all people, even Christians, struggle with sin. The apostle Paul told us in Romans 7 that he struggled with doing the right things. I think there is a solution that requires us to declare that we are free from sin. Over the years, there have been many methods suggested to deal with the problem. Even though we have been forgiven of all our sin; past, present and future, God desires that we live a holy life, following the example of Jesus. So what is the answer? How do we deal with the problem of sin? 
    Often, we fall into the trap of what I call, sin management. We set resolutions, trying to defeat a particular sin within our own strength. While this may work for a time, we almost always end up back in the same habit as before. We also find ourselves confessing the same sin day after day, wanting the assurance that we are forgiven. This is our way of making ourselves feel better for the sin that we cannot defeat. But God has forgiven us already. We are completely forgiven. The love and blood of Christ has covered all our sin. When we bring up a sin before him, he does not know what we are talking about, for the Word tells us that he forgets our sins and remembers them no more. Sin management does not work. We always find ourselves on the proverbial hamster wheel, always coming back around to the same place of sin. 
    The true way to defeat sin is found in the scripture above. Like everything in our Christian lives, we must make a decision to defeat sin. We must change our minds about it. When we are caught in an addictive sin, this is difficult to do. The real answer, the truth about defeating sin is this: We must reckon (or count) ourselves dead to sin. Since we are alive in Christ, we are now dead to sin. Let me illustrate this. If you went and got a dead man, took him to the warm, sunny beach, propped him up on a bench and paraded scantily clad women in front of him, would he respond or react in any way? Of course not, because he is dead! If you showed a dead person all the riches of the world, they would not respond at all because they are dead. They are dead to the world and therefore to sin. This is the truth about sin. We are dead to it. It no longer masters us, it should no longer appeal to us. But we must RECKON ourselves dead to sin. This means we must first believe it, then speak it, and then live it!
    This is a revelation to me. Instead of repenting every day for the same old sin, I can choose to count myself dead to sin before it happens. The more I declare it, the more I believe it. The more I believe it, the more I am victorious over sin. Sin will no longer reign in me. My desire for it is waning because I am dead to sin and alive to Christ. It is really a matter of you and I understanding the totality of our positions in Christ. Because we are in him, we are dead to the sin, we are dead to the world, and we are alive to God through Christ. Try it with me. Today, declare that you are dead to sin. Do it every day. In fact, do it several times a day. When tempted, let's say, "I am dead to sin, and alive in Christ Jesus." I believe the results will be life-changing. This is the truth about sin, and we can defeat it!