Rom
6:1 What then are we to say? Should we continue
in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on
living in it? 3
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by
baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we
have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with
him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with
him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be
enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we
have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that
Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for
all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion
in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 No longer present your
members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as
those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God
as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since
you are not under law but under grace.
The
Grace of God is a recurring theme in the teaching of St Paul. But while Paul
insists that we are “saved by grace through faith”,[1]
he is at pains to show that this is not a grace without consequences. The Grace
of God is a transformative process that results in change: grace allows us to
move from brokenness to healing, from instability to stability, from sin to
righteousness. God’s Grace does not confer
instant perfection in a person’s life, but it is expected to help that person
move away from sin.
Pray
for the Grace of God to transform your life into a closer pattern of what God
intended you to become.
Ordinary 24 / Pentecost +17
46 Beyond Forgiveness
The Scripture passage
for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other
Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 282.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.
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