Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to himself. Confess any known sin. Thank him for his forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and his sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s word. Pray for others in your life that they too would know and love God today.
Read:
Romans 6:1-7,
“1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 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. 5 If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. 6 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— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
Understand:
In verses 6-7 Paul continued to carry forward the thought of the believer’s union with Christ. Our old self died, in fact it was crucified with Christ.
So who was this “old self?” It’s our unregenerate self. It’s what we were before we came to Faith. Here’s the good news: it’s a body that can be put to death! That’s right, it could be crucified with Christ and done away with. Because of our faith in Christ, this old self is dead along with its passions and desires. It’s true, as believers we’re able to lay aside the old self, which was corrupted by sin’s deceitful desires. We are no longer slaves to sin; we’ve been set free!
When does this take place? Well, it actually occurs at the time of our conversion. When we repent, in a sense, we nail the old, evil, corrupt nature with all its affections and lusts to the cross. It’s important that we remember that this old self was me—all of me. As John Stott put it, “What was crucified with Christ was not a part of me called my old self, but the whole of me as I was before I was converted.”
In our dying, we’ve been set free—we’ve done away with the “body of sin” and have been set free from sin. I’m reminded of what F.F. Bruce said, “Death pays all debts, so those who have died with Christ have the slate wiped clean, and are ready to begin their new life with Christ freed from the entail of the past.”
Apply
Take some time today and think about what it means for you personally to know that your slate has been wiped clean. The old corrupted self is gone; it literally has no right to you…your debt has been paid.
*From what you have just read and considered what is a real implication/application for your life today?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer for today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through his Spirit as you go through your day. Ask him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell him “Yes” to his will today and ask him for his power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask him to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY TODAY.
Inspiration and insight for the devotionals came from the following books: Reading Romans with John Stott; The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Stott, John; Romans (The NIV Application Commentary Book 6) Moo, Douglas J.; Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies) Moo, Douglas J.; Believers Bible Commentary; The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, with the New International Version, Romans through Galatians; NIV Application Study Bible. The Cambridge Bible Commentary, Romans, Best, Ernest.