Daily Verse: Romans 6:11-13

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.

 

God is with us always. He hears our every word, knows our every thought, and witnesses our every action. There is nothing that goes unnoticed by our Lord (Hebrews 4:13, Psalm139:4,Job 34:21). Yet, even though we know this, we still willingly allow sin into our lives. When we are frustrated or angry, we allow sinful language to fill our words. When we are in certain settings, we engage in sinful behaviors in the name or “fun” or “relaxation”. When we want to be what we see as “happy”, we choose a sinful path that provides that happiness, regardless of how much we may miss the mark on what true happiness really is. Bottom line, God sees all the sin in our lives. And since God is committed to righteousness and hates sin, I am convinced that he is not the least bit pleased when we choose sin. When God sent Christ to the cross to be punished for our sins, he gave us EVERYTHING. He gave us complete undeserved hope, peace, reconciliation, and salvation. Without this gift of Christ, we would have nothing…we would be prisoners to our sin and life would be one cold, dark, and hopeless journey that ends in incredible disappointment. So why not let this incredible grace and generosity impact our daily lives, reminding us of what has been done on our behalf, and governing how we choose to live our lives? I witnessed a sermon this weekend that spoke wisely about the concept of Sacrifice. It defined Sacrifice as “dying to ourselves”. While this sermon was speaking specifically to the marriage between man and woman, the concept is very applicable to our lives with the Lord. We must die to ourselves when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. We must be willing to put our wants and desires in the backseat while embracing His righteous plan as the sole direction for our lives. We won’t be perfect, we will still mess up at times, but it will be clear where our allegiance stands. We commit to this stance not to somehow earn our salvation, for that price has already been paid in full through Christ. But rather we commit to living each day in genuine service to the Lord because of our deep desire to express our love and gratitude to the one true Lord. The very Lord that loves us so deeply that he has an actual count of the hairs on our heads! It’s a love that is amazing and hard to even grasp at times, yet it is completely real! May we live each day for the Lord…every word, every thought, every action…committed to serving Him and Him alone. To God be the glory!