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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, October 4, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Dead to Sin, Alive to God Bible Verse:Romans 6:1-4 "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Message:
Paul poses a rhetorical question that many new Christians must have asked: Since, now that we believe in Christ, all of our sins are forgiven by God‘s grace, should we just keep sinning? We are not saved by good works; so should we bother with them? Or even: Should we sin more, so that God‘s grace will be even greater?
It is a more logical question than it sounds to us today, because we have been raised largely in a culture of humanism, where people are judged by their works. But consider the logic of it. If we really believe that we are saved and all of our sins forgiven solely by our belief in Christ, why should we worry about sin? Some early Christians adopted this belief, which came to be known as “antinomianism” and was eventually declared an official heresy by the Catholic church. But in the first century A.D., new Christians had difficulty refuting the logic of it.
But Paul can answer it! We are, initially, baptized into death; the death of Christ. Early Christians, like some denominations today, baptized by immersion. The person being baptized was dunked, completely underwater. When we undergo baptism, even in denominations where it is done by sprinkling water on the head, we are symbolically drowned.
Most Christians know that we must “die and be born again” in Christ, for it is a famous saying of Christ himself, but we do not take time to reflect on the first part of it. We must die, as Christ died on the cross, before we can join him in resurrection.
Paul calls this “dying to sin.” It is easy to say, but hard to understand.
Old habits die hard. People who immigrate have trouble leaving their old culture behind. Sometimes they resist learning the language and habits of their new country. This has some similarity to baptism. When we are baptized, we leave the world of the flesh and live in the world of the resurrected Jesus. We are “dead” to our old culture.
Why, then, would we keep the habits of our old culture, the culture of the flesh, rather than adopting the habits of our new life? Once we believe in God, the stronger our belief, the less inclined we are to commit sin. This is why renewal is so important. As we renew and strengthen our belief, our temptation to sin weakens; the Holy Spirit comes alive in us and guides us away from evil. We die to sin and leave its world, and live in our new world, a world of goodness and righteousness.
Meditation : . Prayer : Now the God of patience and consolation grant to me, and to all who pray in the name of Christ, to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.,....Amen |
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