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"Death Leads to Life" by Tara Beth Leach
Romans 7:1 Surely you know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who understand Torah — that the Torah has authority over a person only so long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is bound by Torah to her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is released from the part of the Torah that deals with husbands. 3 Therefore, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from that part of the Torah; so that if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the Torah through the Messiah’s body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were living according to our old nature, the passions connected with sins worked through the Torah in our various parts, with the result that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from this aspect of the Torah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.
7 Therefore, what are we to say? That the Torah is sinful? Heaven forbid! Rather, the function of the Torah was that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if the Torah had not said, “Thou shalt not covet.”[Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:14(17), Deuteronomy 5:18(21)] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of evil desires — for apart from Torah, sin is dead. 9 I was once alive outside the framework of Torah. But when the commandment really encountered me, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. The commandment that was intended to bring me life was found to be bringing me death! 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me; and through the commandment, sin killed me. 12 So the Torah is holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good.
13 Then did something good become for me the source of death? Heaven forbid! Rather, it was sin working death in me through something good, so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin, so that sin through the commandment might come to be experienced as sinful beyond measure.
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The call to discipleship is demanding on the Christ-follower’s life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Those who enter into discipleship enter into Jesus’ death. They turn their living into dying . . . Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads us to death.”* When we enter into a relationship with Christ, we are called to put to death the ways of this world and rise to new life in Christ.
Take a few moments to think if there are specific sins in your life that may need to die. If you can’t think of any, pray for the Spirit to search your heart (Psalm 139:23). Maybe it’s pride, selfishness, hatred, jealousy, impatience, or greed that needs to die in your life. As Christ-followers and disciples, when we truly allow the words and teachings of Jesus to shape our lives, things have to die. However, it is in dying that the resurrecting power of Jesus Christ begins its work. Today, pray for the Holy Spirit to transform your life so that you no longer live in the old way of life, but instead live in the new way of the Spirit.
*Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 87-------
Hymn for Today: "Moment by Moment" by Daniel F. Whittle
1. Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
CHORUS: Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
2. Never a battle with wrong for the right,
Never a contest that He doth not fight;
Lifting above us His banner so white;
Moment by moment I’m kept in His sight.
CHORUS: Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
3. Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear;
Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
Moment by moment, I’m under His care.
CHORUS: Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
4. Never a heartache, and never a groan,
Never a teardrop, and never a moan;
Never a danger but there on the throne
Moment by moment He thinks of His own.
CHORUS: Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
5. Never a weakness that He doth not feel,
Never a sickness that He cannot heal;
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.
CHORUS: Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
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Thought for Today: 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins[1 Peter 2:24 Isaiah 53:4, 12] in his body on the stake,[1 Peter 2:24 Deuteronomy 21:22–23] so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness — by his wounds you were healed.[1 Peter 2:24 Isaiah 53:5]-------
Please Pray: For the development of Christian leaders in Romania.
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