When we were born again (made alive) in Christ, God restored His image (His character) that was lost when Adam sinned  and we are now able to “make choices.” That is the secret of living a life of holiness. We can “choose” to allow the power of the Lord that has been given to Him (Matt 28:18), which is given to us by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).

In his letter to the Roman church, Paul provides three verbs (funny I should be talking about verbs when I hated English class all through school) that are at the center of our “will” and “choice;” they are at the center of the battle plan the Holy Spirit has laid out for us for living as a Christian in this life. Here they are in context in the KJV version:

Reckon – Reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God … Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. KJV

Forbid – Forbid the reign of sin in our mortal bodies … Rom 6:12 Let not (forbid)sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. KJV

Yield – Yield in obedience to righteousness … Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? KJV

Each of these action verbs involves our active faith in a divine principle: we believe we are united to Christ; we act by faith in what was accomplished on the cross; and we yield  in obedience to righteousness. W. H. Griffith Tomas says that these verses contain the Key-Words of Holiness.

These verbs are all in the present tense, implying a continuous attitude and action on our part. Our oneness with Jesus (we died with Him and we live with Him) forbids us to allow sin to dominate us; it is our personal responsibility. Or to put it another way: we are to keep on not allowing sin to rule in our body. We are not to allow sin to be our master. We are to present ourselves to God and allow Him to use us for His service.

These are deliberate choices we are to make every day of our walk through this life. As Thomas puts it: The practical, daily, and even momentary use of each of these key-words will give us the secret of perpetual holiness.