1 Peter 4:1 - I'm Done with You

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.”

I find the term “done with” very interesting. I searched the phrase, “done with you”, its most common usage, and came up with some goodies:

- A Papa Roach song titled, “Done with You.” I checked out the lyrics, some classic lines: You made my life completely miserable, you drove me to the edge, you’ve caused me all this pain, you can’t help me, you can’t save me, and my favorite, I’ve got a bad liver and a broken heart.

- There is an episode of the Hills called, “I’m done with You.” I think the story-line is that Heidi caught Spencer at a nightclub with another girl…oh no he di’ent!

- There was an insightful article titled, “A Few Signs He’s Done with You.”

- And naturally, there’s a Facebook page titled, “I don’t hate you, I’m just done with you.” It has 370,660 fans, as I write this.

Being done with someone or something is a common attitude. I’m done with school, I’m done with work, I’m done with laundry, I’m done with traffic, etc, etc, etc…we are “done with” things when we make the decision to stop continually pouring time, energy, and emotion into something without getting anything (except annoyance, pain, and heartache) in return.

We can’t always be done with things that we would like to be done with. You can’t be done with school when you have 18 more hours to graduate. You can’t be done with traffic when you have to commute to work. You cannot be done with the weather, even though it’s too darn hot, cold, humid, rainy, snowy, etc. Some things we cannot control…but some things we can.

For example, relationships (romantic, friends, whatever)… at some point; we need to be done with relationships that are not working. The first step in that process is to see the relationship for what it is, not what you imagine or hope it to be. It doesn’t matter if the person in question is the best looking, coolest, most popular person in the world – if they are not treating you well, cheating on you, or not holding up their end of the relationship – you have to cut them loose (or move them down the importance ladder). You need to get to the point where you are done with putting your time, energy, and emotion into a relationship that only disappoints.

And that is exactly what must happen to our relationship with sin. Sin is the ultimate all promise, no deliver relationship of all time. Have you realized that this is true in your life? Sin creates an appetite that it is incapable of filling. It starts out as fun, but eventually the fun wears out and all that is left is a hollow pit in your stomach and a trail of painful consequences.

The Papa Roach song could easily be about sin, “You made my life completely miserable, you drove me to the edge, you’ve caused me all this pain, you can’t help me, you can’t save me.” That is what sin does in our lives. Sin only destroys; it never ends in anything good. Are you done with it yet?

I’ll finish up next time – until then, spend some time thinking and praying about whether you are done with sin. Are there sins in your life that you hold onto? Are there attitudes that you are unwilling to let go? Jesus will not make you give up your sins – that is your job. Are you done with sin?