Baptized Into His Death! You have been set Free!

Good morning to all on this last Monday in October. Waine and I spent the weekend in Orlando with Freddie, Tracy, Kai and Hailie for Freddie's birthday. It is always GREAT to visit with our oldest son and his family. Kai and Hailie always lift up our spirits. Although it is Monday, I needed to get connected with God this morning. Satan is always on the prowl, seeking to kill and destroy everyone in his path. Thank God through Christ, that we have been bought and paid for. I am thanking God for His strength and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness!

I am continuing my journey in Romans 6 verses 1 - 23, "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. 

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Amen and may God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

This chapter struck a cord with me this morning. As a Christian I have been set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ--so why do I feel less than a conqueror? I know beyond any doubt that if I died today, I would awake in the presence of God. I know that ALL the mysteries of the ages will be revealed to me. I don't fear death. Neither do I fear life however life is burdensome. There are so many variables that come into play that can bring you down. You become burdened. That is when you know that you are not living life with God; you are living life according to your own plans. Life with God is burden free. Christ carried all of our burdens, past present and future and took them to the Cross where He paid the ultimate price to set us free. So why do I feel burdened?  There is this thought that we pick up our burdens back at the Cross when we take our eyes off Jesus. When we allow ourselves to be yoked to sin then we are burdened. You may ask how this is possible for a Christian. How can a Christian become yoked to sin? Very easy. We de-throne Christ from the center of our lives and begin to believe that we can live this life ourselves.

God gives us a formula for successful living as Christians. He tells us to keep our mind FIXED on Him.  He tells us to deliver our cares to Him daily. He tells us to ever lean on Him. He tells us to guard our minds with the water of the WORD. He tells us these things because He knows that satan is on the prowl to try and get us to look away from the Cross. Christ calls out to us daily. Like Peter we obey His voice and begin to walk on the water to meet Him. Like Peter we can become distracted with the winds and the waves.  That's satan. Satan distracts us and we look away from the Cross and become afraid and the perfect love of God cannot be manifest when we are afraid. Remember that there is no fear in the perfect love of God.

If there are areas of your life which lead to fear, then you have to take those areas to God through prayer. As Christians, our life will be peeled like an onion. God will continue to peel away those areas of our life which we still want to control. During those "peeling" away periods, we will have to face ourselves and then give up those familiar ways of thinking and behaving. Some of us may have to work on anger, others greed, others lack of self control. These old habits BLOCK our vision of the Cross and have to be put away.  As Christians we should be at PEACE no matter what circumstances we confront. We have been set free and therefore should not act as slaves. We are to embrace the ZOe of God--Life as God intends. It is there and God will not force it on us. We have to be in a posture to accept His gift of Life daily.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie