From an early age I swam competitively. In high school I swam on a city AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team as well as with my high school’s team. That AAU coach was a stickler for form. We watched underwater footage of Mark Spitz swimming, and the coach would point out little nuances the Olympic gold medalist employed that most people would have missed. Then we’d repeat drills over and over that focused on improving our form. For example, looking forward instead of down, or breathing every third stroke—so we wouldn’t get sloppy and start favoring one side.
The point wasn’t to look good; it was that these little tweaks would make us better and faster in the water. Swimmers aren’t disqualified for lacking good form, but they look sloppy and tend to be slower. So our coach required discipline and lots of practice.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul acts as our coach. We are all on “Team Jesus” and Paul wants us to practice “good form” so we can be more effective members of the body, so we won’t look sloppy to the world, and to position us to win our race (1 Corinthians 9:24). As with the swimming example above, God will not disqualify us if we don’t exercise discipline or self-control in every area. But the more we look like Him, the more the world will believe our testimony and want what we’ve got—the free gift of righteousness.
Paul asks, Why all this stress on behavior? Because, as I think you have realized, the present time is of the highest importance—it is time to wake up to reality. Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day! Let us live cleanly, as in the daylight, not in the “delights” of getting drunk or playing with sex, nor yet in quarrelling or jealousies. Let us be Christ’s men from head to foot, and give no chances to the flesh to have its fling (Romans 13:11-14 J.B. Phillips New Testament).
Paul wanted these believers to “look and behave” like a bride for the bridegroom’s return. They’d been meeting frequently as the church in each other’s homes, but then went on their merry way, engaging in all of these fleshly activities and attitudes. They knew better—and so do we. Notice, however, that Paul did NOT say, “If you don’t clean up your act, Jesus will reject you.” And God was not punishing these people with sickness and disease. We don’t need to fear God’s wrath if we lose some battles with the flesh. But we DO need to put up a fight and resist temptation! Our problem is the same as those receiving Paul’s letter. It’s not that we cannot say “no” to the flesh, but rather that we don’t want to!
This new year, let’s “work out our salvation” and allow the free gift of righteousness to saturate our day-to-day lives. Our discipline and improved attitudes will help us look more like the attractive bride of Christ, being led by the Spirit in all that we do.
