Daily Devotionals

August 14, 2020

Our Peachtree Church email devotionals this week, August 10–14, will all be written by Peachtree’s Student Ministry Staff.


 

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. 

 

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 

 

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 

 

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

 

Romans 6: 1-14

Sometimes in life, we experience seasons in which our sin can feel more alive to us than the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Even though Paul says, “count yourselves dead to sin,” sin can still feel as if it has a strong pull on our lives. This realization is why it is so important to be rooted in the truth of the Gospel. This truth says that, regardless of how we feel, if we are in Christ, our sins are washed away on the cross where Jesus died and then was raised to life again. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are dead to sin and are newly alive with Jesus. As Paul writes, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” 

 

Overcoming our sins may seem a daunting task, but there is hope and help in the power of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t shy away when we pray, seek, desire, and ask to be shaped in the image of Jesus Christ. Instead, He delights in our desire to be made alive in Christ Jesus. So often when we try to take sin away on our own, we fail. We end up focusing on the sin and not the bigger picture of the cross. If you were told not to think about a clown-car being driven by an elephant, you’re going to think about a clown-car being driven by an elephant. In this same way, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to shift our perspective to the truth that is displayed in the Gospel until it becomes more real to us than our feelings of sin. In Christ we are no longer under the law but under His grace, for Christ has already died to sin. The deed has been accomplished! Thanks be to God! 

For Reflection


In what areas of your life do you feel sin is alive? In other words, how is sin pulling at you?


What would it look like in your life to be “dead to sin” but alive to God in Christ Jesus? 


Take this time for a prayer of confession. Ask God to address areas in your life where sin still feels alive. Rest in the knowledge that by Jesus’s great mercy and love, sin has been defeated. We are no longer slaves to death but alive in Christ! 

Prayer


Father, sometimes my sin feels more active in my life than You are. Please remind me at this time that I am no longer a slave to sin and that I have been bought with a price on the cross. Holy Spirit, guide me this day and shape my desires to be those following the heart of God. Help me see that the price of death has already been paid by Christ. I am no longer under the law that enslaves but under His grace. Thank you, Jesus, for accomplishing on the cross what I could never do for myself. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Alex Alderman

High School Associate