In Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan pictures Christian as he enters the Valley of Humiliation and squares off with Apollyon, a fish-scaled, bat-winged, bear-clawed, lion-mouthed fire-breathing dragon of a brute who claims the pilgrim as a runaway and thus the fiend’s lawful property.
“I was born, indeed, in your dominions,” Christian admits, “but your service was hard, and your wages such as a man could not live on; for the wages of sin is death.” The devil offers a raise, but Christian stands firm: “O thou destroying Apollyon, to speak the truth, I like His service, His wages, His servants, His government, His company, and country better than thine; therefore leave off to persuade me further; I am His servant and I will follow Him.”
Negotiations break down at that point. Both sides throw down and the pilgrim and the devil duke it out to the death.
That’s pretty much the picture Paul offers of the believer’s battle with evil. Sin for Paul is not an itemized inventory of bad actions but an autocratic power over all of one’s life. Salvation consists not of altering isolated behaviors but of swapping kings and kingdoms. “Having been freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.” Secession leads to invasion: The Christian continues to fight against temptation, but does so as a member of the resistance.
So repentance digs deeper than what actions we’re performing and asks instead whose orders we’re obeying. If I sin it is because I believe that doing so somehow staves off death. Admitting to telling socially acceptable lies, Holden Caufield explains, “If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff.” But Paul WikiLeaks the devil’s ledger and reveals that our final paycheck bears a skull and crossbones.
God, by contrast, clears the books and offers a gift instead. When a citizen of Hell in C. S. Lewis’ Great Divorce insists that “I got to have my rights,” his redeemed companion replies, “Oh no. It’s not so bad as that. I haven’t got my rights, or I should not be here. You will not get yours either. You’ll get something far better. Never fear.”
So don’t bargain with death; sell yourself to life. Don’t cut the best deal you can with sin; switch sides and serve righteousness. Don’t make the best of a bad master; flee to the freedom of slavery to Christ.
Live It Up!
Doug
Collect
God of life, the blood of Your Son cancels the debt of our sin and replaces its deadly wages with the gift of eternal life. Grant us now the strength to cease serving sin and to live instead as slaves to You, that we might derive the blessings of sanctification and secure the outcome of eternal life in Christ who forever reigns with you Father, together with the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, Amen.
Blessing
May you reject the reign of sin,
And offer your bodies as weapons of life.
May you reject the slavery of sin,
And present yourselves as servants of life.
May you reject the wages sin,
And receive instead the gift of life.
In the name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
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