Loving God of grace, allow this dear reader to abide in You and You in him/her on this day. In Christ Jesus, amen.
I've never lived in another country, unless you count the state of Colorado, and even then back in the 70s it was a bit different from what it is now. I have traveled in Mexico, England, and Spain, and drove through Maryland. With my windows rolled up and doors locked. But the Message version of the Bible has this to say about chapter 6:1-14:
1 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? 2 I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? 3 Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace - a new life in a new land! 4 When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. 5 Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. 6 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life - no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: 7 8 If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. 9 We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. 10 When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. 11 From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. 12 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. 13 Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time - remember, you've been raised from the dead! - into God's way of doing things. 14 Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.
We have left our old home in the land of sin, through our conversion and relationship with Jesus, and moved into a new home in a new land, the land of grace. What a difference that should have made in our lives. I imagine the land of sin to be a bleak land where the sun seldom shines and there is no breeze to speak of; the grass is dead and no hope of rain to perk it up. What's more all of this is spiritual, a place where we know we are dying spiritually unless we allow God to do something about it. On the other hand, the land of grace is the exact opposite: a place of life, a place of bright home and a sense of the presence of God; we celebrate not being alone and knowing that with God with us, we fear nothing. And our desire is to do works of grace and we leave sin behind.
Paul knew we all sin and still do, but to continue in the same sin without trusting God's power to deliver us from that makes no sense. In the older version of verse one, Paul asks, "What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? " No! We leave that behind and move towards the place God would have us be.
It's not easy leaving behind the familiar and the things and people we're used to; but in order to live and live fully, we leave behind the past, the sinful, the things that mark us as good as dead.
PRAYER: God of life, grant to me the power to move right now away from my sin. I want to leave behind this land of sin and move to my new home in the land of grace. I know the house is ready, the door is open and the fridge is stocked. Let me not even turn back to close this old house's door. You do that so that no one is tempted to walk in and live in this place. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
