Today's Verse

VERSE:
  What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace
may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it
any longer?
   -- Romans 6:1
      

THOUGHT:
  Grace doesn't mean that we are sloppy with sin. We have died to
sin when we surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Christ. We
don't want sin, or its power, to have control over us. We don't
want to take lightly the awful cost Jesus paid to cover our sin.
The apostle Paul uses the strongest language possible ("By no
means!" is way too tame a translation: "God forbid!" "Unthinkable!"
"Abomination!" would all be much more accurate.) As those saved by
grace, we realize that sin is more than spurning the will of God or
breaking a divine command; sin is making light of Jesus' sacrifice
for us, sin is rebelling against the Father who paid such a high
price to adopt us into his family, and sin is breaking our Father's
heart to choose our own self-destructive path.

PRAYER:
  Father, thank you for your incomparable and generous grace. You
lavished this grace upon me through Jesus' death on the Cross. I
thank you for the salvation that I have received through his
sacrifice. Please make my own sin abhorrent to me. Give me a
passion for holiness and a deeper appreciation of what it cost you
to make me holy. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.