Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Romans 6:11-14
Dead and Alive
Daily Devotion – November 2, 2017
Devotion based on Romans 6:11-14
See series: Devotions
Christians are walking oxymorons. That may sound like an insult to Christians, but connected to God by his grace through faith in Jesus, this is an accurate description. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two terms, which seem to contradict each other, appear together. For example, “jumbo shrimp,” “civil war,” and “crash landing” are oxymorons. Yes, Christians are walking oxymorons. God’s word recorded in Romans chapter 6 tells Christians to consider themselves dead and alive at the same time. How can we be dead and alive at the same time? Either we are one or the other, not both.
The key is to what or to whom we are dead or alive. Once we were dead to God. The Bible tells that without Jesus we are “dead in our transgressions and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) We were spiritually dead, not caring about God or his will, and doomed to hell. But Jesus changed all that. He gave his life on the cross to forgive our sins and save us from death and hell.
Once we were dead to God and living in sin, but God in his grace has turned that entirely around. By giving us faith in Jesus, he changed us. We are now dead to sin and alive to God. As such, Romans 6 urges us to have nothing to do with sin. If we are dead to sin, why let our hands or mouths be tools of wickedness? Our Savior, Jesus, who gave himself for us, is our master now. We live under his grace. Our hands and mouths can be his instruments, showing and telling his saving love in what we say and do.
So be the walking oxymoron God in his grace has made you to be. You are dead to sin, AND alive to God through faith in Jesus. Live like it!
Prayer:
Dear Savior, thank you for bringing me from death to life in your death and resurrection. Help me to use my life and all I have to live to you and for you! Amen.
Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.
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