8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:8-11
I remember the first time I heard the popular worship song “No Longer Slaves.” It was powerful, moving, and, if I am honest, a bit convicting. There is a line in the chorus that says, “I am no longer a slave to fear; I am a child of God.” If that is true of me as a Christ-follower, why do I still sometimes fear? Why does it seem that when situations of anxiety come around, I still trust in my own abilities? Maybe you are like that too. Maybe you have walked many years as a Christian, and yet you still find sin, anxiety and distrust in Jesus crouching at the door.
I am grateful Romans 6:8-11 speaks to our lives as Christians here on earth, as we wrestle with our sins and anxieties. Because Jesus lives, we can live. If death cannot hold our Jesus, and He now lives in us, then we now have that same victorious power! Jesus’ death wasn’t just a loan to pay off the sins we can’t handle on our own—it was the permanent removal of death’s dominion over us. Quite literally, because Jesus lives, we can live. In no other faith worldview does the Creator become like the creation so the creation can live with its Creator.
To put our passage plainly, Christ’s death for your sin is the key to truly living in this life. Will you still struggle with sin? Yes, but Christ’s grace is sufficient. Does sin still have absolute control over you? Absolutely not. This is one of the “benefits” of our faith: it’s ours for the taking. We have been given permission to live this life from a different vantage point than others.
The question we all have to wrestle with, though, comes to us through Romans 6:11. Are we truly dead to the sin in our lives? Or do we water our sin nature like a cherished plant—just enough to keep it alive? Do we entertain it just enough to keep it hanging around?
Friend, starve your sin nature so it dies once and for all. The fullness of what it means to be alive to Jesus can’t be experienced until we have died to ourselves. If we want to experience God’s ultimate peace, fulfillment and hope here on earth, we must live in Christ where sin cannot dwell!
Questions to Ask Yourself
- What sin are you keeping alive right now that you know needs to die?
- What kind of benefits do you think can come from killing your sin and embracing Jesus?
- Who do you need to confess this to today?
Missions Prayer
Pray for the staff and volunteers in the Medical Dental Unit. Pray for the churches the MDU partners with, that they would continue to connect and walk through life with those who come for care, sharing Jesus in multiple ways. Pray for an MDU clinic this coming weekend at Woodbine.