Free to Live a New Life
Opening Prayer
Lord, I pray to You for a fresh vision of what it means to be “in Christ.” Show me Your
way.
Read Romans 6:1–7
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
New International Version (NIV)
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Reflect
In my walk with God, have I become used to failure? Am I settling for second-best? Have I learned to live with compromise?The argument of the letter so far has been that, through Jesus, God has done everything
necessary for us to be in relationship with him. So does that mean that sin doesn’t matter now? Could it even glorify God by highlighting his grace (1; 3:5)?
A previous occupant of our home had planted some ornamental bamboo in the garden. No
doubt it looked attractive at first, but over time it had run out of control. We employed someone to get rid of the bamboo, but it had a final foothold in one shrub from where it spread out its sharp roots. Eventually I concluded that we had to sacrifice the shrub and pull it up if we were to deal with the bamboo.
The radical action of God in Jesus means that sin no longer needs to be accommodated. He has dealt with the source of the problem. “We are those who have died to sin… we too may live a new life” (3,4). Our life is entirely tied up with Christ: in baptism we die with him in order to rise with him to new life.
Apply
Is there an area in your life that you are clinging to the old ways or specific sins? Take time to hand these over to God.
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, this new life is a free gift; show me what this looks like for me. I want to say “Yes” to You and leave the “old self” behind.
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