Thoughts on Romans - Day 14

                                             Romans 6:1-10
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.


          What if your child said to you," I think I should keep getting in trouble at school because it shows everyone what a loving, forgiving, gracious parent you are and how wise you are in knowing how to deal with difficult situations. Other parents will start coming to you for advice and you may even get to teach a class on parenting on Wednesday night at church." What are the problems with this - and there are many!?

       First of all, the people that I want to hear talk on how to raise children are ones whose kids didn't get into trouble. None of us parents want to go through the stress of our kids rebelling and getting into trouble so we want to know what we can do to prevent that. We recently taught a class at church by Tim Kimmel on parenting with grace. I stalked his kids on the internet before I taught it to make sure they weren't Juvenile delinquents, and they weren't because frankly, I don't want to waste my time reading a book on how to parent by Ted Bundy's parents. Paul says in Romans 6 basically that we are part of God's family. He wants you to represent the family well. It glorifies Him the most when we don't sin and really, after all He has done for us, why wouldn't we want to?

       Secondly, if my child says that, I know they aren't looking out for my good, they are just wanting to behave badly and trying to shmooze me. A good parent is wise to their kids schemes. Somehow we know when our kids say "I accidently knocked my sister over" if it was an accident or they meant to do it. Paul knows that the people who are saying ,"The more I sin, the better God's grace appears", are just looking for an excuse to sin and he knows that they really haven't been saved. He knows that people who have been saved didn't necessarily give up all their sins prior to conversion but came with the bent knee saying,"God, I submit to your control of my life, whatever You tell me to do, I will do." If your child says, "How many speeding tickets can I get before you take away the keys?", they aren't ready for the keys.

     Lastly, if my child says that to me, they don't understand that there is more to being a good parent than forgiveness - there is discipline and tough love. People who emphasize and assume on only one aspect of God's character like forgiveness or love or grace don't really know Him. A good parent might make his child sit in jail overnight to learn consequences. A good parent may let their child be expelled and work at a fast food restraunt for a year to change their behavior. Paul is saying, "do you know the dangers of sin? It is so bad it cost the life of God's son. Stay away before it destroys you!"

     Lord, keep me from sin today. Help me represent You well today.  Thank You for Your grace to me and help me never take that for granted. Through your Holy Spirit give me a sensitive conscience that I may flee from all appearance of evil today. Amen.