We Too May Live A New Life

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, 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 any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:1-14

Usually when something breaks we are happy to repair it enough to make it functional again. But several hundred years ago, a Japanese artist found a way to make broken china beautiful again. He started using golden resin to hold the fragments together again. Pieces repaired by using this method have intricate veins of gold in them.

God does the same to us. He repairs us. But he uses something more precious than gold – He uses the blood of Christ – the blood of His Son. Instead of having veins of gold, we are united by the very veins of Christ.

The price of our freedom from sin was paid by Jesus’ blood.

Our Daily Bread – June 24, 2014