A Devotional by Keith D. Wallace

Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:  21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Anyone who has been saved for any length of time has read or heard these verses.  Many Christians can even quote at least verse 20 from memory.  But how many Christians stop and meditate on these verses and really think about what this truly means for our walk with the Lord?

We know that it is because of Christ’s obedience and his substitutionary payment for sin that we are able to be made the righteousness of God through Him.  We know that we are now dead to sin and do not have to be servants of sin.  We know that God’s grace is greater than our sin.  But do we really understand what this means to us?

Think for just a moment about the sins you have committed in your life.  If any one person were to try to list out all the sins in his life he would have a collection of books larger than any library on this earth.  But God’s grace is so much more than all of those sins.  The grace of God provides us forgiveness of sins.  The grace of God provides us a relationship with Him.  The grace of God provides us with the power to overcome the temptations of this world and be an effective servant of God.  The problem is that so many Christians refuse to allow God to extend this grace and they end up being “dead weight” Christians.

How many times have you sinned during your Christian life and then gone before the Throne of Grace and given that sin over to the Lord and then walked away only to take that sin along with you?  A Christian can never be effective in his walk and service for the Lord if he is constantly dragging sins along with him that he supposedly gave over to the Lord.

Do we make mistakes in our lives?  Absolutely.  Do we need to give those things over to the Lord?  Without a doubt.  Do we need to carry around the guilt for having made those mistakes?  Only if you don’t desire a successful walk with the Lord.  Remember that we are now made free from sin, and become servants to God (Rom 6:22).  You have to be free from sin to be a servant of God.  Carrying around sins that God has already taken care of will tear you down and make you of none effect for the cause of Christ.

Let grace much more abound in your life and let your service to Christ be not hindered.