Journal Entry #1 – Dead to Sin, Alive In Christ

As I’ve been spending time with the Lord lately, I keep feeling like I should pull out my old journals and share them with you, both for your benefit, and mine. I’m not quite sure what we’ll stumble upon, but it is always great to reflect back on what the Lord has taken us through, whether it was something we learned, a bad or good season that we went through, etc. It is great to remember where we have been, but we always need to strive to be even better today.

How it will generally work is that I will first post the scripture I was reading, for you to read as well, then it will be followed by my reflection on that scripture.

So, today marks the first post in the journal entries of many more to come, I hope you enjoy them, and that we might each gain something from them as well.

Journal Entry #1 – Dead to Sin, Alive In Christ

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We 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.⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For 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— ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

-Romans 6:1-14

Wow, what an amazing passage. By the grace God has given us, we have been set free through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. This is something that all Believers should know, but do we really understand that when we accepted HIS grace, we died to sin? We can no longer go on sinning like we once did. We have been baptized by the into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our old selves should have been crucified with him on the cross: “The death he [Jesus] died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” In the same way, we need to live for God. We should not let sin reign in our bodies, so that we obey all of its evil desires. We need to offer ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness. Sure, we will mess up, but it is not due to being bound by sin any longer. Because sin shall not be our master, because we are not under law, but under grace.

I hope this first journal entry sparked some thoughts. I strongly encourage you all to go through your own journal entries, if you have them, to see where God has taken you. And, if you are willing, share some them with us.

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In God’s Love and Grace,