Yielding

In Romans 6, Paul teaches that just because we as Christians are forgiven of our sins, this does not mean that we are to continue living willfully in sin. Rather, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ, since Christ died to sin, so we also have died to sin if we have received Christ as our savior.

As I was reading through Romans 6 though, I read this chapter in the Amplified Bible and really like the way the Amplified Bible translates verse 13, because the Amplified Bible uses the words yielding and yield, which is slightly different than the NKJV which uses the word present.  The King James also uses the word yield in verse 13.

When I read this verse, the word yield really stuck out in my mind, as I immediately thought of the many yield signs that we see as we are driving. Depending on where you live, you will see many yield signs or very few yield signs, but nevertheless, we know what a yield sign is and what it means. A yield sign does not require the same action that a stop sign requires. At a yield sign, we must slow down and check to see if there is oncoming traffic that we must yield to and give way. If we want to be completely honest though, how many times do we actually follow the yield sign? Personally, I know what it means to yield, but when it comes to actually yielding, I tend to just tap the brakes and blow on through the sign. Only if something much larger than me is coming my direction will I generally yield and wait.

According to Dictionary.com, one definition for the word yield is “to give place of precedence.” I think that this definition is fitting for many of us today. Many of us tend to “give place of precedence” to sin in our lives, as we live with the mindset that Paul is warning against. We should not continue to live in sin simply because we are forgiven through Christ. We need to consider ourselves dead to sin. Therefore, we need to stop yielding to the sin that is in our lives.

When we are driving and come upon a yield sign, and we see that a large vehicle is headed our direction, the smart response is to yield to the oncoming vehicle, so as to avoid a collision that can result in serious damage and death. In our spiritual lives though, when we see sin coming in our direction, no matter how big or small it may appear, we need to ignore the yield sign and blow right on by that sin. Do not yield yourself to sin, as the first part of verse 13 tells us, but instead do as the latter part of verse 13 tells us and yield yourself to God and present yourself as an implement of righteousness (Amplified Bible).