libpasob.blogg.se

1. #No guilt in life no fear in death bible verse how to#
2. #No guilt in life no fear in death bible verse free#

The difference for Christians is that our duty ultimately is to God, not the state or shareholders or anyone else. Not many workplace stewards or agents are as committed as Jesus was-willing to give their lives to fulfill their duties-but the concept of agency is an everyday reality in the workplace. Among them are attorneys, corporate officers, agents, trustees and boards of direc­tors, judges, and many others. Similarly, many people in the workplace have a duty to serve the interests of others, rather than their own. In the Christian faith, Christ himself is the model steward, who gave up his own life in order to fulfill God’s purposes. This is actually a familiar concept in both Christian faith and the secular workplace. We make decisions as God’s stewards or agents. What does it mean to be a “slave” of God’s grace in our places of work? It means that we do not make decisions at work based on how things affect us, but about how they affect our master, God. Walking in Newness of Life in the Workplace (Romans 6) Back to Table of Contents Back to Table of Contents The advantage of walking in newness of life is not that it feels freer than slavery to sin, but that it results in justice and life, rather than shame and death. “But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. “You are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness ” (Rom. Our choice, then, is which kind of slavery to accept-slavery to newness of life or slavery to our old sins. The bindings will chafe whenever we begin to wander off course, and Paul admits that walking in newness of life will feel a lot like slavery at first. Instead he offers to strap us into new life in Christ. Therefore God’s grace does not cast us “free” to wander aimlessly back into our old ills.

#No guilt in life no fear in death bible verse free#

Only God’s grace, made real in Christ’s death, has the power to pry us free from our habits of judgment (Rom. Paul says that sin continually seeks to “exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.” However good our intentions, we soon fall back into our broken ways. Making this kind of change in our life and work is exceedingly difficult. Once we no longer regard them as unworthy of our respect, then we can begin to discern specific ways to restore good relationships, reestablish just and fair dealings with one another, and build up one another and our organizations. Instead, walking in newness of life would require us first of all to give up our judgments of the other side. Merely following the regula­tions or refraining from cheating would not be walking in newness of life. Conversely, it may be a convenient excuse for managers to discriminate against workers they don’t personally like, or to evade safety or workplace fairness regulations, or to withhold information from workers. This may have become a con­venient pretext for workers to cheat the company, use paid time for personal activities, or fail to do excellent work. Our calling is to become instruments of justice and reconciliation, working to root out the effects of sin in a troubled world.įor example, workers may have fallen into a habit of judging man­agement as evil or unfair, and vice versa. This is far more active than merely refraining from bad behavior. As instruments of God’s justice, believers act in ways through which the life-giving power of God’s grace builds up people and communities in Christ.

To walk in newness of life requires us to abandon our judgmentalism and to do God’s justice rather than continuing in our self-serving habits (Rom. In our lives here and now, we can begin to live-or “walk”-in reconciliation and justice just as Christ now lives. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. He compares walking in newness of life to Christ’s new life after being raised from the dead. Paul calls choosing to partner with God “walking in newness of life” (Rom. Human be­ings must choose whether, through their actions in daily life, to partner with God through Christ or with these evil forces. Paul often personifies these evil spiritual forces, calling them such names as “sin” (Rom.

#No guilt in life no fear in death bible verse how to#