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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 13, 2008 Newness of Life |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday, January 13th, 2008 by Matt Pensinger
27Romans 6:1-5
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may
abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we
too might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be
united with him in a resurrection like his.
One of my favorite (and of course, one of the most Lutheran) Christian music groups is Lost and Found. They have a song about baptism that lyrically states that on the day you were baptized “God reached down.. and you died.” It’s a pretty powerful image! They connect it with being brought to be baptized as an infant (like I said, they’re Lutheran), and it makes the “you died” even clearer and harder. God reached down.. and you died. Right there, right in your baptism, with the font and the water and the kids and all that stuff.. you died.
Wow. Did I? Did I, really? Paul says that in baptism we’ve died to sin, and we’re raised to walk in newness of life. Then why’s it still so hard? Why can’t I seem to figure it out? Why am I always tempted to do the wrong things, or not do the right things, or just do nothing at all? Paul goes on to say that we are freed from being enslaved to sin; well, sometimes it feels like we’re still enslaved, doesn’t it? Enslaved to the work week, or enslaved to materialism, or enslaved to hatreds and divisions, or enslaved to exhaustion, or enslaved to fear, or enslaved to being right. I died to all of that? Really? Could have fooled me, some days.
But yes.. it’s true, it really is. What explains it to me is that phrase at the end of verse 4: “so we too might walk in newness of life.” We were united with Christ in death, so that just as Christ was RAISED from the dead..! Do you, like me, read that and expect it to say, we TOO will be RAISED from the dead? Other letters in the New Testament say that, that we’ve already been raised, it’s done, it’s certain. Paul’s not really addressing that here.. he just says, because we’ve been baptized, we walk in NEWNESS of life. Life, each and every day, is new for us. It’s not the same old thing, same old sins, same old enslavements, same old fears and failures. We died, remember? We died.. and so it’s new. It’s new, every day.. a new chance, a new challenge, a new beginning. We’re newly called to speak a word of love and hope to THAT person, right now, right there! .. oh, we missed them. Well, that’s ok! Because we’re newly called to make THIS decision, right here, right now, about how our time and energy will be used this week.. and oh, we did. And turn around.. here’s another person, and we’re newly called to speak to them!! .. and we did. And we succeeded and failed to spread God’s Message, and we succeeded and failed to do God’s work, and everything is eternally new. All things have been made new. Our lives have eternal newness to them; our walk, each and every day, offers us new chances and challenges and beginnings. May you remember today that you are baptized.. may you be blessed as you walk into and out of newness of life.
Gracious God, you name us as your beloved children; you anoint us as your messengers and servants in the world. Give to your beloved child grace this day to answer your calling, to do your work, and to share your message with all people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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