Today's Verse

VERSE:
  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.

   -- Romans 6:3-4
      

THOUGHT:
  Baptism is far more than getting wet or checking off another
thing on our obedience to do list. You see, what saves is Jesus'
death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-5). God has given us
the incredible grace (Rom. 6:1,14,15) of being able to share in
Jesus' saving work through faith and experience it in baptism (Gal.
3:26-27). We die to the old way of life and bury it in the past. It
no longer holds us. This death is the death that matters most.
Raised to a new life, our life is now joined to Christ and his
future becomes our own (cf. Col. 3:1-4). The life we now live is to
glorify God and to live with him forever. That means the Gospel is
not just something preached; it is something we experience by
grace.

PRAYER:
  Thank you Father, for raising me from death to your new life for
me in Jesus. Thank you for your grace in sending Jesus. Thank you
for your grace in making Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection
something I have experienced. May my life reflect your powerful
grace given to me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen