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Romans 6:1-11 – What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him … so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Paul shocks me a bit when he talks about how closely we are linked to Christ. According to the Holy Spirit, who is speaking here, to belong to Jesus is to be so close to Him that His death is our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection. You can’t get a sheet of paper between Him and us; we are united to Him, and where He goes, we go.
If that’s the way it is, it makes a lot of things about the Christian life suddenly clearer. First of all, it becomes obvious that the Lord loves us—loves us with abandon; for you would never tie yourself to someone that closely if all you felt for them was a mild approval, or a distant wish to do them good. To put it another way, if I’m going to have someone constantly hanging around all the time, the way Christ has arranged to have us, well, it’s going to be someone that makes my heart glad to see them, day in and day out. It’s going to be someone I have a passionate, permanent commitment to—and in Jesus’ case, this is a commitment that lasts not just till death itself but beyond it, into all eternity!
Now if He feels that way about us—and He does—that changes everything, doesn’t it? Suddenly all those temptations that seemed so alluring just a moment ago become … weaker. I mean, I have this Person who takes delight in me, who gave up His life for me, who has tied Himself to me forever and is glad of it—and that makes it a bit easier to turn away from the things I know will make Him unhappy. Not because I fear He will reject me or throw me away—clearly He won’t—but because it would break my heart to hurt His.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, help me to grasp the way You love me—and to let that affect my love for You and my actions. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- When has your love relationship with someone caused you to choose differently than usual?
- Why did that love make a difference to you?
- Do you find it easy or hard to believe God really wants you?
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