Today's Verse

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

— Romans 6:1 (NIV)

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

Grace doesn't mean that we are sloppy with sin. We have died to sin when we surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Christ. We don't want sin, or its power, to have control over us. We don't want to take lightly the awful cost Jesus paid to cover our sin. The apostle Paul uses the strongest language possible ("By no means!" is way too tame a translation: "God forbid!" "Unthinkable!" "Abomination!" would all be much more accurate.) As those saved by grace, we realize that sin is more than spurning the will of God or breaking a divine command; sin is making light of Jesus' sacrifice for us, sin is rebelling against the Father who paid such a high price to adopt us into his family, and sin is breaking our Father's heart to choose our own self-destructive path.

My Prayer...

Father, thank you for your incomparable and generous grace. You lavished this grace upon me through Jesus' death on the Cross. I thank you for the salvation that I have received through his sacrifice. Please make my own sin abhorrent to me. Give me a passion for holiness and a deeper appreciation of what it cost you to make me holy. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.