Free from Sin

This picture kind of says it all. Christ and his unfathomable mercy will always be more abounding than the dirty, nasty, dark and perverse sin in us.  We are new creatures in Christ, we have a fresh start, and a clean slate.

"Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.  And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.  We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.  We are no longer slaves to sin.  For when we died to Christ we were set free from the power of sin.  And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.  We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again.  Death no longer has any power over him.  When he died, he died once to break the power of sin.  But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus." -Romans 6:1-11

This passage explains so amazingly how that even though we do still sin we are no longer enslaved by it.  Jesus has freed us from it. We only choose to let it shackle us and ensnare us.  I am writing to myself here too. I make a conscious choice to let sin control me instead of living as Christ and letting the passions of the flesh fall to the wayside.  I am dead to the power of sin so why do I choose to let it have power over me?  I feel like fall back into these patterns of darkness instead of walking into the light that holds freedom and peace.  Later on in Chapter 6 Paul tells us that he is using the analogy of slavery to relate it to our human nature.  He is urging us to no longer be slaves to sin but to righteousness and holiness.  "Be holy as I am holy" the Lord says. I think that putting this whole chapter in context I finally truly understand this last verse that I have heard my whole life:

"For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life." -Romans 6:23