Thought of the Day !!

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

                                                Romans 6:6-7 (NLT)

Paul says that we died with Christ.  When we turn our lives over to him, giving him control and accepting his sacrifice as our way of becoming right with God, we are said to have died with him.  Our old selves die and we become new beings.

This new being is actually freed from two things.  Here Paul tells us that we’re freed from the power of sin.  But we’re also freed from the penalty of sin.  Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we are no longer bound by the curse that has been put on this world because of Adam and Eve’s original sin.  The punishment for sin is death, but if we accept the sacrifice of Jesus’ life, that penalty has been paid.

Secondly, we are freed from the power that sin has over our lives when we die with Christ.  Our old selves were dominated by sin’s power over us.  It was this sinful nature that controlled us (and still does those who’ve not repented and turned to Christ). 

Turning our lives over to Christ, or as Paul puts it here, “being crucified with him”, means that we have made a choice.  We’ve chosen God’s will over our own self-centered will.  After all, that’s what our sinful nature is, the part of us that is self-centered.

So the choice is simple really.  Choose God’s will, the better way.  Or choose our own will.  But as we will learn tomorrow from Romans 7, though the choice is a simple one, living out the right way is not always as simple. 

In the love of Christ,

greg