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Day 27: Romans 6/Psalm 53
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Monday March 22, 2004
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Death and taxes
Death and
taxes are supposedly two things that are unavoidable in this world. If
you substitute “slavery” for the word “taxes” (which is not such a big
leap for many of us) then this seems to be the message of Romans
chapter 6.
The first reading
of this section of scripture can be a little confusing; we died so we
could live, we were crucified, then we’re made alive again that we
should die again. The part about slavery is just as confusing; we used
to be slaves but now we’re set free and we should use our new freedom
to become slaves. It’s enough to give you a brain cramp.
What God is saying
here is that this is a good news / bad news scenario. First the bad
news; absolute freedom is a myth. The notion that “I’m going to do what
I want to do” is an illusion. When we think that we’re choosing “self
will,” what we’re really doing is turning loose a monster from within.
The Scripture sometimes refers to this as our sin nature or
the old man.
When the monster
gets out, he put us in a downward spiral. What starts out as doing
something not so bad leads to something only a little worse to
something just a tiny bit more distant from who God is. And Romans 6 is
clear about where the spiral ends--death. There the dying of conscience
begins--of desire for Godly things, of soul and spirit, of free will,
and if unchecked, ultimately the death of our relationship with God.
The good news is
that there is a spiral that goes in the opposite direction, one that
takes us closer and closer to the heart of God and grows us to be more
and more like Him. This spiral also results in the loss of self will,
but this time it must be voluntary, not just a resultant consequence of
our fallen nature.
The only way to get
the power required to spiral upward against the gravitational pull of
sin is to get it from Jesus. The ticket Jesus requires for his power is
a surrendered will. To say that surrendering our wills to Jesus will be
difficult is an understatement. It’s not just painful, it’s like death.
It’s not just inconvenient, it’s like slavery.
But this death is
the death of the old man within us who didn’t care about God, only
self. And the slavery is the slavery of that sin nature crying out
within us for those things that will actually poison our spirits. And the
end result is life--amazing life, eternal life, life with the one who
loves us enough to die for us.
Today’s
Prayer:
Father, show me today where what I want is different from what you
want for me and give me the strength to give up my way for yours.
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Memory Verse of the Week:
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
came by Christ Jesus."
Romans 3:23-24 (New International Version)
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For a complete
listing of all the previous devotionals in this "50 Day
Experience," click here.
To read the chapter or psalm of the day online, click on one of the
following links:
o
Romans
6
o
Psalm
53
Mark Lutz, lutz@cincyvineyard.com, Pastor
of Growth & Healing at VCC
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