Romans 6:12-23 (NRSV)
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Verse 12Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Verse 13No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. Verse 14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Verse 15What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Verse 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Verse 17But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, Verse 18and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Verse 19I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. Verse 20When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Verse 21So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. Verse 22But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Verse 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotion
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:23
We don’t like to talk about sin. Perhaps we’d rather deny or disregard the reality of sin in our lives. We make excuses or try to place blame elsewhere, or we minimize the power of sin to control us. We expect God to cover us when we are the ones at fault. In Romans, Paul speaks of sin being no different than slavery and even death. We must come to terms with the sin in our lives and in the world. Denying the existence of sin only drives us deeper into despair.
Grace, on the other hand, gives us life. Knowing that our own efforts come up short, we look to Jesus for forgiveness. At the cross where Jesus died for our sins we are met by God’s love and the grace to sustain us as individuals and as a community.
Prayer
Holy and loving God, help us to die to our old sinful selves and release those things that seek to destroy us and others. Give us your grace as we receive your forgiveness and teach us to extend your grace to all the world. Amen.
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