Devotion

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Grace doesn't mean that we are sloppy with our sins. We have died to sin when we surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Christ. We don't want sin, or its power, to have control over us. We don't want to take lightly the awful cost Jesus paid to cover our sin. The apostle Paul uses the strongest language possible ("By no means!" is way too tame a translation: "God forbid!" "Unthinkable!" "Abomination!" would all be much more accurate.) As those saved by grace, we realize that sin is more than breaking a divine command. Sin is making light of Jesus' love for us by choosing our sin over his sacrifice. Ouch! That is a startling revelation. Sin is rebelling against the Father who paid such a high price to adopt us into his family. Sin is breaking our Father's heart because we are choosing our sin over our love for him. Finally, sin is choosing our own will rather than God's will; a choice that leads us down a path of self-destruction.

Father, thank you for your incomparably generous grace lavished upon me through Jesus' death on the Cross and the salvation I have received through him. Please make my own sin abhorrent to me. Please give me a passion for holiness and a deeper appreciation of what it cost you to make me holy. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.