Yield your members as instruments of righteousness

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13, KJV)

Yielding ourselves to God to be used as instruments of righteousness

Let me quickly review a critical element of our daily walk with the Lord after receiving Him as Lord and Savior. The Lord commands us to yield our members to Him as instruments of righteousness. What does this mean?

What are “members”? The imagery here is that of body parts, e.g., hands, feet, ears, eyes, etc. “Members” is used in scripture in reference to us individually or as a body of believers. Rom 6:13 above is referring to us individually. The idea, almost like that of a metaphor, is that we should not give our body parts to sin to use as instruments to carry out its purposes. Sin is personified as a person who can use our body, just as the Lord Himself.

It is important to note here that what He calls “members” is not just your physical body. It is very clear in the verse above as He says “neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God”. It is immediately evident that “your members” is the same as “yourselves”. He is saying do not allow sin to use your life as a instrument to bring forth unrighteousness. E.g, when we lie, sin has “used our mouth” to produce unrighteousness. Rather, give yourself in yielding and obedience to God. 

MEDITATE

What does it mean to “yield”? Can the Lord force us if we do not yield ourselves to Him? What about sin? Can sin force us to do its will if we do not yield ourselves?

APPLY THE WORD

Your members include all the personal capacities you have authority over as a person, including physical and psychological, such as your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. You have the authority to either yield these members to sin or to God. Chose to yield yourselves to God.

PRAY

Ask the Father to help you be willing always to yield to Him. 

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