Death to sin, live letting God use us for Good.

 Today we are reading from Romans 6:1-14.

 So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace? 
I always find this an interesting question.  The thought that it even needs to be raised!  To me it's an automatic no, though in some way I can understand people thinking it, so I guess it did need to be raised.  
 
  ² No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin? ³ Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism. ⁴ When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.
Paul gives an emphatic NO.  We shouldn't be running around sinning thinking we're all that, so that God's grace can abound all the more in us.  Seriously dude... when we believe in Christ, in his death on the cross, that means we are part of him.  Do we really want something as ugly as sin to be part of that as well?   ICK when you think about it.  Adding that dirtiness to something so pure.   Paul's point is this though... we have DIED to our old sinful lives, so why would we want to deliberately choose to continue living in that sin.  Just as Christ was raised to a new life through God's power, so we can have that new life as well.   Don't live in the past!
  
⁵ Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did. ⁶ We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. ⁷ Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.
Oh.. I like this line.  " Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control."  To be free of sin's control.  It's such a battle you know?   To always want to live in the past, with what I know so well. And yet seeing that brighter future and possibility. Fighting for that.  You know what I mean?   Paul gives us hope here.  He tells what the new reality is.  We have DIED to the old way.  God's power is there to help us live a new life.   Take that power!  Use it.  Remember that sin doesn't have control of us anymore. 

⁸ If we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. ⁹ Christ was raised from the dead, and we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now. ¹⁰ Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God. ¹¹ In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus.
Paul spells it out for us.
We died with Christ (if we believe in him).   That means we also LIVE with Christ.
Christ, raised from the dead.   We live with him.
He can't die again.  Death has no power over him.   
Think about that.  We live with Christ...one that death has no power over, he can't die again.  We live with him.   That's a surety don't you find?  A surety of hope, of sin no longer having the upper hand.
I need to see this more clearly in my life, what about you?   To see God's power to keep me in the new life.
 
¹² So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. ¹³ Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good. ¹⁴ Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God’s grace.
Hear Paul's Words to us.   Do not let sin control your life.   Don't let parts of your body be used for evil.   Don't let that sinful self do what it wants.  Remember.. we died to sin's control.

Instead do this:
Offer your body up to do good.   Give it up to God.  You are under God's grace, not under the law of sin.   So let God use your body to do good.  I see choice in these words.  People can choose to live the old way, the way they died to.  OR they can choose to let God use their body for good. and live   Follow the old way.. or choose to let God work in you.   Let us today make that right choice eh?

What say you? 

 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

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