Romans 6:8-11

Passage

And if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.  Having known that Christ was being raised up out of the dead, He dies no more.  Death is no longer lord over Him.  For He died; He died to sin once for all.  And He lives; He lives to God.  And thus you all: consider yourselves to be dead to sin while living to God in Christ Jesus.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Death is no longer lord over Christ.  Through Christ’s death, we understand that death does not have the final say in life.  Death is not the great master we think it to be.  Death is merely a stage of life.  Death is simply the gateway between life under sin and life in God.  Death is not the end of the journey; it is merely a stop along the way.  In fact, when the length of eternal life is considered, it is actually a stop pretty close to the beginning of existence!

Why do we fear death?  Why do we consider death to be some kind of “master” or “lord” over our life?  What does that tell us about our perspective?

Second Thought:

Christ died to sin.  He lives to God.  The way Paul writes these words out you can hear the emphasis through the repetition of vocabulary and grammar.  Paul says Christ died, and then states it again by saying He died to sin.  In the same way Paul states that Christ lives, and then states it again by saying He lives to God.  Paul is putting the model of Christ before us so that we can learn to imitate it.  We must die to sin.  We must die to sin first.  Then we can live to God.  The cancer of sin must be cut away before new life can be meaningfully added in.

Have you ever considered the story of Christ’s death and resurrection as a model for your own walk?  Does it make sense that you must die to sin before you can live to God?  Why do so many people want to skip over the part about dying to sin and instead jump straight to living for God?

Third Thought:

As Christ died to sin and lives to God, we are also to consider our life along those same lines.  We are still tempted, which is why we are to consider ourselves dead to sin.  Sin will come along, but if we give it no home and give it no attention it should not come home to roost.  Instead, we are to live to God.  Our focus should be upon God and God’s ways.  When we focus upon the ways of God, those are what will live in our hearts and occupy our being.

Are you living to God?  How?  In what ways?  Are you dead to sin?  How do you know?  Are there any places you might need to improve dying to sin so that you can live to God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 6:12-14