Romans 6

Hope all of your Mondays weren’t too rough.  As I promised Romans six is starting the week of everyday posts.  Monday is my first day of the week, because I run on a school schedule. I apologize if you consider Sunday the first day, but it’s just not.

We left off with Paul telling the Christian in Rome about sin and we meet back with him talking about the same thing, sin.  However, this time Paul discusses freedom from sin.  The first few verses are summarized very nicely in verse 10: “For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”  Or in lyrical words, “He became sin that knew no sin.”  When Jesus died sin died with Him.  Not in the sense that sin is no longer in this world, because that is definitely not true, but in the sense that sin can no longer find a home in us.  Having been freed from sin, we no longer have to be slaves to it. We are now slaves of righteousness (verse 18). 

We become slaves to whom or whatever we serve ahead of God. In verse 16 Paul says, “we are either slaves of sin resulting in death, or slaves of obedience resulting in righteousness.”  And in verse 12 Paul warns us to “not let sin reign in our mortal body so that we obey its lusts.”  All of these verses bring about one idea, freedom in eternal life.  I mean, seriously, what’s more freeing than living forever?  But of course with freedom comes responsibility.  Choosing to follow God could be one of the most difficult decisions we ever make.  I don’t mean accepting him in the way most of us do, with saying “yes Lord, I believe you died for my sins…etc.”  I mean giving yourself to Him wholeheartedly; giving up your old life and becoming new in Him.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (verse 23). 

One of the verses that I really think helps us realize what died from sin means is verse 13: “…present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead…” Although it is a bit weird I really love the way it puts it.  We are to give ourselves to God like brand new gifts, as a person dead in sin and new in God.  Once we give our lives over to God we become free in Him, in righteousness.  I feel like a lot of people think becoming a Christian mean that you have to give up all your fun, and I suppose for some that may be true, all depending on what their idea of “fun” is.  However for most it is not too big of a sacrifice, because when you think about it God isn’t asking you to kill your only child.  Yet He did that with out us even asking Him to.  The point I am trying to make here is that when we become more and more like Christ we gain more freedom because that life becomes what we want to live and God presents us with endless opportunities, but when we live in flesh all we have are the things of the world and things that will only last as long as we do.  Gods will and His gifts are better than Anything we could ever plan for ourselves or think up of on our own, and if you only take one thing from this post tonight I want it to be that. 

Gods will and His gifts are better than ANYTHING we could ever plan for ourselves or think up of on our own

Also, if you guys have any pray requests or whatever feel free to head over to this Facebook page and post 'em.