First Step - day 24

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Today’s Bible Reading

Romans 6:1-18

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?

4 We 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. 5 If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. 6 For 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— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.

10 The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do 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.

14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one who you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Applying God’s Word in My Life:

1. Why are there so many references to death in this passage? How do Christ’s death and resurrection affect our relationship to sin? (vv.1-11).

2. Why must we not become slaves to sin again? (v.6). When or how will sin become our master?

3. What must you do to show that “you have been set free from sin and have become [a slave] to righteousness”? (v.18).

Today’s Key Verse: Romans

6:18

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

50

The Wolf Feeding

There’s a story about an old Indian chief sitting before a flickering fire with his grandson. The boy had broken a tribal law, and his grandpa wanted to help him understand what made him do it. “It’s like we have two wolves inside us,” said the chief. “One is good, the other is bad. Both demand our obedience.”

battle with selfish and sinful desires. They rise up within us and put incredible pressure on us to satisfy them. They are like hungers we can’t ever fulfil. First they are small, ‘harmless’ desires, but they grow stronger and can end up controlling us (Romans 6:16).

To resist, we must believe what the Bible tells us about temptation’s power. We must also believe that the Holy Spirit will help us to resist or to break free from its power.

“Which one wins?” asked the boy.

“The one we feed!” said the wise old chief.

Every follower of Jesus Christ can identify with that struggle. We fight an ongoing

But then comes the hard part. When a selfish desire demands to be fed, we must say no—perhaps again and again and again. Paul said, “Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Romans 13:14).

Remember, what we feed will control us.

Lord, grant me strength from day to day— How prone I am to go astray!

[My selfish passions] are strong; O God, please shield me from all wrong. —D. DeHaan

51
Day 24
It is easier to resist the first evil thought than to satisfy all the ones that follow.
Holiness

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