Romans 6:8-14 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,
he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ.
12 Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey it’s evil
desires.
13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,
but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offered every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law,
but under grace.
What does this mean to you?
To me it is so freeing! As I accept this truth that all my sins throughout my whole life are already forgiven and erased! Jesus died to sin ONCE FOR ALL.
Then the most wonderful gift of all is that God raised him from death to life and in doing so, we also will be raised to life after we die to our earthly bodies.
In Christ I am dead to sin and alive to God! If I truly have surrendered myself to God then his Spirit within me guides me to live a righteous life. Because of Jesus and what he did for me, I want to do what is right to God. I want to do my best at all that God has given me to do, whether it is taking care of myself and my family, taking care of our home and property, Tasks that I don’t always like to do.
As the verse 14 states: “Sin shall no longer be your master” I am not a slave or prisoner to my sinful nature!
In Christ I am free to live to God, offering every part of myself as an instrument of righteousness. Choosing not to offer any part of myself to sin.
I choose to follow Jesus everyday, and I choose to live my life according to God’s will for me.
If I give into my weaknesses and follow my own will it will lead me away from God and I get off track with his plan for me. But even if I do mess up, if I just “Fess Up” as Pastor said on Sunday, and admit I am doing wrong and confess it to God and ask for his forgiveness, he will always forgive me.
I used to live daily under a mountain of fears. I could hardly get up in the morning because I was afraid of what might happen to me or my family that day. I got so depressed because I my fears were keeping me from living.
I knew that I was not doing what God wanted me to do. I asked him to help me let go of my fears and to show me what he wanted me to do with my life.
God patiently guided me each day, encouraging me to trust him. Gradually the dark cloud began to lift, I began to realize that I was the one holding onto it. If it would start to drift away I would pull it back and retreat back into my safe little world.
Day by day God showed me all that I could do, he gave me the confidence to come out of my comfort zone and try something new. Then I began to realize, it’s okay! I can do this through Christ who strengthens me! He helped me to see that I could do a lot of things that I was too afraid to try before. I learned that I wasn’t in control of the world around me or other people, I was only in control of myself. I learned to let go and let life happen and face whatever with the peace and strength that God gave me.
How about you? What do you need to let go of ? In what ways are you offering yourself as instruments of Righteousness?
My prayer is that we all will RECEIVE the Resurrected Jesus and His Grace! That we will be encouraged by Christ to live our lives the best we can for his Glory! That we will help each other to come out of our comfort zones, by accepting each other and loving each other as God loves us.
May Jesus lead you in the way that He wants you to go!
His Peace to you,
Patrice