Purify Your Mind Series (Part 3) by Joe KirbyNäide

Carrying Corpses

"There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12)

There is nothing worse than a man or woman who is “wise in their own eyes” (Isa. 5:21). We want to carve out our own paths, and for many, that means sowing some wild oats on the way. Everyone thinks they have the best recipe for a life well lived, but the Bible shows us the plans of men always have a bitter end.

In Roman mythology, King Mezentius was an evil king who enjoyed torturing his captives. Instead of executing his victims, he tied dead corpses to the living. Mezentius’ subjects were condemned to carry the dead body with them wherever they went until eventually the rotting corpse spread its decay to them and killed them also. Many Christians have been set free from the decaying sins they once knew, yet they insist on still carrying them, even though they are now new creations. Jesus said, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Our sin is a choice; we can tie ourselves to this dead man until it leads us back to death, or we can bury those sins and leave them in the ground. It might be tempting to occasionally pick that sin up and cuddle it for a while, but the Bible says it’s death. If Christ has cut the cords of sin, do not return to it, lest the second binding be worse than the first.