Do Better
Scripture Reference: Romans 6:1-11
Devotional Scripture: “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 NIV
Ever thought to yourself why you tend to repeat the same mistakes (tests)? It’s because you never really crucified your old mentality. Think about it. You say you gave your life to Christ and believed that He died on the cross for your sins. However, you still do the same things, act the same way, and have the same thinking. How many times have you’ve said, "I am not going back to eating junk food and drinking sodas after this spiritual fast." But you go back to the same unhealthy eating? How many times have you gotten yourself into a situation that God sent a way out of no way only to find yourself back in the same bind? We make promises to ourselves that we can keep, but we don’t. It’s a decision that only we can make. It's time to get to that place where our old must die for our new to live.
In Romans 6:1-2, a question is presented to us, “So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply? Absolutely not! All of us died to sin. How can we still live in it?” I asked myself today, “Why do I continue to do the old when it died when I was baptized? Why do I continue my old way of living (sins) when it was nailed to the cross?” After I read this scripture, I realized that I never went through with the circumcision process in order to completely remove the old and the bad. Basically, I interrupted the circumcision process. My pastor, Rev. Dr. Hendricks said it best, “We are living crucified lives in resurrected bodies”. What this means is that we give our lives to Christ, get baptized, protest to be Christians and living a Holy Ghost filled life, yet we make conscious decisions to live sinful lives and think like the "World" rather than living and thinking Christ-like.
How can I expect better? How can my grace multiply? Rescheduled my circumcision, that’s how. It’s time to commit fully if we want our lives to change for the better. Today, I challenged myself to write down my ways that are not of God; those things that never changed and was never circumcised. Then pray over them asking for forgiveness, guidance for change and for my heart to be cleaned so that I can live in prosperity as promised. I invite you to do the same. We all want better but we have to do the work to receive it.
Dear Father God, thank you for your grace, mercy, and favor that you have over the lives of each person reading these words. Thank you for Your Son who died on the cross for our sins and the gift of everlasting life. Please bless each person reading this post and send the Holy Spirit to guide and protect them. Bless them with wisdom and understanding of knowing that we can no longer live in the old way life yet expect your grace to multiply in our lives. Oh God we ask that to clip away all the dead weeds and lifeless branches that hinders our growth in you and provide our roots with new water to grow stronger. Father God your are our Master Gardner and we trust in you. We honor you and we praise you. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.
