License To Sin?

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died for sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Romans 6: 8-10 NKJV

I read a story the other day of a man who had been in prison for over 15 years before he new evidence set had set him free.  Predictably, his faith in the justice system had been shaken.  When interviewed, he ran off a bucket list of all the things he wanted to do that he had once missed out on.  Things we take for granted like driving, shopping, family time,sight seeing and other pleasures.  Predictably, the one thing he DIDN'T do was to go back to the prison that had been his home for so many years.  That may seem like a no brainer, but you'd be surprised at just how many people revisit failed behaviors and actions even though they've been burned by them before.  I was one of those people.  I don't like to admit when I'm wrong, and I DEFINATELY don't like paying the price for wrong decisions that I thought were the right ones at the time.  I'm guessinng that I'm in some pretty good company there, however.
In Romans 6, the apostle Paul makes a important observation that may very well help us today.  We accept that our Lord Jesus bled and died on the cross, all for us.  However, it wasn't just Christ that died on that cross, but the very sin that he was rescuing us from perished as well.  Jesus took that bullet for us, so that Gods righteous judgement would not be counted against us.  I believe that one of satans final footholds on Gods ccreation was that of death, eventually we all pass away, but what lies beyond that?  With the death and resurection of Christ, we can now be assured of life beyond the grave!  As Christ now now resides in the presence of his father who sent him, so will we who receive the gift he offers.  We no longer need to fear what lies beyond this life of ours, Jesus has already assured us of that.
There is a reason that I began this page with mention of a man who was freed from prison after so many years.  This man, having spent so much of his life imprisoned, finaly tasted the freedom he'd hoped for for so long.  Prison life was all that he knew.  It's no wonder, then, that when he was finally set free, that his new life took some  getting used to.  This is the same with we who have accepted the free gift that Jesus has given us.  Like that former prisoner, WE are set free thanks to the selfless sacrafice of our Lord Jesus.  It may take us some time to realize the freedom we now have, but that doesn't change the fact that it has been given to us.  The mistake we make is revisiting that former life that the shed blood of Christ has already paid the price  to do away with.  Why would someone go back to prison after being set free?

~Scott~