Monday, May 24, 2010

Romans 6 DEVO: Sin = Death, Jesus = Eternal Life

Chapter 6:
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!”
The idea here is , “Hey, if my sins make God’s grace look even greater, then I should keep on sinning!” Ummmm…… no. “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” When we identified with Jesus (baptism) we put aside our old ways of living that “we too may live a new life.” It was a conscious choice, not that we will live perfectly, but that we, through the Holy Spirit’s power, will “no longer be slaves to sin.” So we now are called to be an instrument for God and not an instrument for sin!
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” this is another idea Paul anticipates: “Hey, if we’re under grace, then God will forgive us…” Yes – but “By no means” are we to abuse grace!~ If I gave you $1 million dollars, would you treat me with disregard or contempt? No, you’d be grateful and you’d tell me so. Well, God has given us eternal life in Jesus and how do we respond to that? Slaves are to be obedient to their masters. Before we began a relationship with Jesus, sin was our master but in Christ we have a new Master we are to obey!
Paul then sums it up with a familiar verse: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
SO WHAT?!
*If we’re honest, most of our sins are things we already know we shouldn’t do, but did anyway. Is God’s grace greater than our sin? You bet and I’m so thankful! But that should not lead us to take sin lightly. I grew up Catholic, and although I don’t believe you have to go to a priest for confession (1 John 1:9, Hebrews 4:14-16), the emphasis they place on confessing sin is admirable. How important is it to confess our sin to God and seek His forgiveness? Well, Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Let’s spend some time today & every day confessing our sins so that we can be forgiven and God will hear our prayers!
*Romans 6:23: Which would you rather receive:
- The paycheck for sin?
- The gift of God?
Thank YOU LORD for taking the penalty for MY sin!

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