OUR DAILY BREAD : A NEW NORMAL
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:32 pmApril 3
Saturday
A NEW
NORMAL
READ:
Romans 6:1-11
________________________________________________________
After my doctor announced that I had cancer, I tried to listen to what he said, but i couldn't. I went home, pulled a blanket over my head,
and fell asleep on the couch, as if sleeping could change the diagnosis.
When I finally gained enough strength to tell my loved ones, my friend Judy Schreur said something especially memorable. After expressing her sympathy, she said, "This is what will happen. You will feel really bad for 3 days. Then you will get up, figure out what you have to do, and get on with our life." Then she added, "I think it has to do with death, burial, and resurrection."
At the time, I didn't believe it. I was sure that life as I knew it was over. Nothing would ever be the same. I couldn't imagine feeling normal again. But she was right. Three days later I woke up and realized I didn't feel quite so bad. And little by little, despite the physical misery of chemotherapy treatments, my emotional and spiritual condition improved significantly. I "died" to my old reality and was "raised" to a new normal.
Thankfully, God is in the business of resurrection. For those who have died in Christ, the death of one reality means resurrection to a new, glorious normal so that we can "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). __Julie Ackerman Link
_____________________________________________________________
To be "in christ" is to share in His life,
in His death, and in His resurrection.
************Today's Bible Reading __ Romans 6:1-11**************
1 What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall
we who died to sin live any
longer in it? 3 Or do you not
know that as many of us as
were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into
His death? 4 Therefore we
were buried with Him
through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in
newness of life.
5 For if we have been
united together in the
likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in
the likeness of His
resurrection, 6 knowing this,
that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be done
away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has
been freed from sin. 8 Now
if we died with Christ, we
believe that we shall also
live with Him, 9 knowing
that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, dies
no more. Death no longer
has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He
died, He died to sin once
for all; but the life that He
lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also,
reckon yourselves to be
dead indeed to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Romans 6:1 is an important statement on the Christian life. Through
the forgiveness that Christ's death and resurrection have secured for
us, one might assume that we can now sin without punishment--but
it--and that sacrifice was not to excuse sin, but to pay for
it--and that sacrifice should call us to a response of gratitude for
grace, not a license to sin. __Bill Crowder
Saturday
A NEW
NORMAL
READ:
Romans 6:1-11
________________________________________________________
After my doctor announced that I had cancer, I tried to listen to what he said, but i couldn't. I went home, pulled a blanket over my head,
and fell asleep on the couch, as if sleeping could change the diagnosis.
When I finally gained enough strength to tell my loved ones, my friend Judy Schreur said something especially memorable. After expressing her sympathy, she said, "This is what will happen. You will feel really bad for 3 days. Then you will get up, figure out what you have to do, and get on with our life." Then she added, "I think it has to do with death, burial, and resurrection."
At the time, I didn't believe it. I was sure that life as I knew it was over. Nothing would ever be the same. I couldn't imagine feeling normal again. But she was right. Three days later I woke up and realized I didn't feel quite so bad. And little by little, despite the physical misery of chemotherapy treatments, my emotional and spiritual condition improved significantly. I "died" to my old reality and was "raised" to a new normal.
Thankfully, God is in the business of resurrection. For those who have died in Christ, the death of one reality means resurrection to a new, glorious normal so that we can "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). __Julie Ackerman Link
_____________________________________________________________
To be "in christ" is to share in His life,
in His death, and in His resurrection.
************Today's Bible Reading __ Romans 6:1-11**************
1 What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall
we who died to sin live any
longer in it? 3 Or do you not
know that as many of us as
were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into
His death? 4 Therefore we
were buried with Him
through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in
newness of life.
5 For if we have been
united together in the
likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in
the likeness of His
resurrection, 6 knowing this,
that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be done
away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has
been freed from sin. 8 Now
if we died with Christ, we
believe that we shall also
live with Him, 9 knowing
that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, dies
no more. Death no longer
has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He
died, He died to sin once
for all; but the life that He
lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also,
reckon yourselves to be
dead indeed to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Romans 6:1 is an important statement on the Christian life. Through
the forgiveness that Christ's death and resurrection have secured for
us, one might assume that we can now sin without punishment--but
it--and that sacrifice was not to excuse sin, but to pay for
it--and that sacrifice should call us to a response of gratitude for
grace, not a license to sin. __Bill Crowder