The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 6:6,7,14,18,22,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin… For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace… You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness… But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
Along with these verses above from Romans 6, we also read in Romans 8:9,13,14, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ… For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
At times we hear that the "Christian life" is something we all strive for, press ahead on, and don't expect to arrive at until the day of resurrection: being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. I agree with that thought as I read the pages of Scripture and experience in my own life both the presence of something that was new to me when I first became a believer in Jesus Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the presence of something that has been old, that sin nature that resides in me.
There is a struggle here between the two. But what I have found in my life and seen in the lives of others verifies what we are told in the Scriptures: we are a new creation in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and he bears fruit in our lives that attests to that reality. It is those "who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
The sin nature has no control over us as believers (per the Scriptures I quoted above). And so I find I have a bit of a problem with the thought that the "Christian Life" is something we all hope to achieve some day but don't really expect to get very far with. It is a question of proportion, or weight. Yes, that sin nature is still there, but at times I think we are all a little too convinced that growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ is beyond reach. I am reminded of the writer of Hebrews 5:12, "…by this time you ought to be…" I suspect the issue for many of us is that we fail to come near to God and so experience in our lives him coming near to us, James 4:8.
Today I worship my God who has set us free from the law, set us free from sin, placed his Holy Spirit within us, making a new creation of each of us, and bears fruit in our lives. We are not only legally "righteous", there is something more… a practical thing God brings our way, we participate in a new community of life that reveals the presence of something divine within each of us, the indwelling Holy Spirit! How wonderful is that?!
Along with these verses above from Romans 6, we also read in Romans 8:9,13,14, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ… For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
At times we hear that the "Christian life" is something we all strive for, press ahead on, and don't expect to arrive at until the day of resurrection: being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. I agree with that thought as I read the pages of Scripture and experience in my own life both the presence of something that was new to me when I first became a believer in Jesus Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the presence of something that has been old, that sin nature that resides in me.
There is a struggle here between the two. But what I have found in my life and seen in the lives of others verifies what we are told in the Scriptures: we are a new creation in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and he bears fruit in our lives that attests to that reality. It is those "who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
The sin nature has no control over us as believers (per the Scriptures I quoted above). And so I find I have a bit of a problem with the thought that the "Christian Life" is something we all hope to achieve some day but don't really expect to get very far with. It is a question of proportion, or weight. Yes, that sin nature is still there, but at times I think we are all a little too convinced that growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ is beyond reach. I am reminded of the writer of Hebrews 5:12, "…by this time you ought to be…" I suspect the issue for many of us is that we fail to come near to God and so experience in our lives him coming near to us, James 4:8.
Today I worship my God who has set us free from the law, set us free from sin, placed his Holy Spirit within us, making a new creation of each of us, and bears fruit in our lives. We are not only legally "righteous", there is something more… a practical thing God brings our way, we participate in a new community of life that reveals the presence of something divine within each of us, the indwelling Holy Spirit! How wonderful is that?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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