Romans 6:5-8 (NLT)

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

The Big Idea:

There are no commands in this passage, just truths and principles that give us a new identity as followers of Jesus Christ. Our old way of living and thinking was nailed to the cross and died when Jesus died, putting an end to the power and penalty of sin. But the story didn’t end there. The Message Bible says: “We get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, (and) we also get included in his life-saving resurrection… Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.”

 The Take Away:

When a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, it never returns to its original form. Set free from the cocoon to fly, the butterfly never reverts back to crawling on the ground. Likewise, the resurrection of Christ sets us free from the power of sin. Let’s not return to crawl in the dirt of sin and death and destruction when our new identity has released us to fly in the freedom of forgiveness and new life in Christ.