ROMANS 14:8

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

TO PONDER

As a disciple of Jesus, we learn the wonderful assurance that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). This provides us with certainty that God will do everything He has said He will do and has promised, and He will never forsake us or leave us. This should underpin our faith in following the Lord without any hesitation. This assurance, is in total contrast to the world and human life which is transient, fluctuating and unpredictable in nature. 

We also learn and gain full appreciation as our faith matures, that when we commit to following Jesus, we die to sin and our old life, with Him on the cross at Calvary, and that we are born again with Him through Holy Baptism – just like on Easter Sunday morning - to a new life where He dwells (lives) in our hearts.

At our Holy Baptism we become one of God’s family. We are marked with the cross on our forehead as one of God’s children. We belong to the Lord which gives us our ownership and identity. We are His for eternity. That is, for today, tomorrow and in the future.  We are His and our life should be centred on service to Him. 

This identity continues on even through death and our departure from this world, as it is through our demise, that we will realise the promise that awaits us as believers, when we are welcomed to our eternal Heavenly home to live with Him.   

As disciples of Jesus then, when we live, we are living with Him and for Him. We die from our old lives here in Baptism through Christ and when we depart this earth through death, we will continue to live with Him through the redemption that He has won for us.     

PRAYER:Eternal Father. Thank you that you are the same yesterday, today and in the future. Continually remind me of this certainty and that I am Your child and that you will never leave or forsake me. Help me to boldly be Your servant knowing that You live in me, and I also pray that You would remind me of the assurance of Your promise that You will continue to live in and with me, even in my death. Amen.

Today's devotion written by Shane Burdack, LifeWay Epping