United with Me! — A Year with Jesus

You have received grace. I died for you when you were “far from God… powerless… weak… wasting [y]our lives in sin” and “in the heat of combat [as enemies]“ in your hearts toward the Father (Romans 5:6-10). (See yesterday’s note also.) Because of My sacrificial death, the Father’s love welled up into this great flood of grace.

So what do you do with that grace?

Do you keep sinning so that grace covers more and more sins? That was the kind of reasoning some in Paul’s day had about grace. What Paul wrote the Romans in today’s verses reminded them that something transformational happened in their lives when they were baptized because of their faith.

In today’s verses, Paul reminds you that in baptism you were “joined with” Me and “united with” Me in My death; you were “buried with” Me after your “old sinful selves were crucified with” Me. Because you have been “united with” Me in My death and burial through baptism, you “will also be raised to live as” I now live to honor the Father. Your faith in My death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-5) empowers your baptism to be a participation in these…