Progressive Growth

Romans 6:5-7 "For if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin  might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin."

The English Standard Version Study Bible notes say this about Romans 6 - "Christians died with Christ and therefore they are no longer enslaved to sin. Sin's rule is broken. Paul does not argue that Christians do not sin at all (a view called sinless perfection; instead, the tyranny, domination and rule of sin has been defeated for them. This means that the normal pattern of life for Christians should be progressive growth in sanctification, resulting in ever greater maturity and conformity to God's moral law in thought and action."

Here are some random sentences from the book Sensible Shoes by Sharon Brown;

"I'm finding I'm becoming more aware of God's presence with me even as I'm doing ordinary things throughout the day." It is exciting when we can experience that.

"I guess one of the more important things I'm learning is that the spiritual formation journey is about transformation not information. So I'm trying to let that shape the way I read God's word. I need to back away from my compulsion to just tick Bible reading of my to-do list. And I'm trying to read slowly and prayerfully, listening for what the Spirit is saying." Yes, I need to work at this kind of Bible reading also.

Here is a great statement for any of you mom's dealing with your children, especially those young ones (like Maya [7yrs] and Cora 3yrs]; "As far as letting go and and laying down your life (which Jesus mentioned in one of his teachings about finding life), I think you'll find that being a mom is the perfect spiritual discipline for that."

Finally for a really difficult one for most of us; "Sounds crazy to say it, but confession gives me life. I want to keep confessing my junk to people I trust. Now that I've tasted the freedom of dumping the junk, I don't want to pick it all back up again, you know? So I need to keep practicing laying those burdens down."

So the Lord asks us the question, "What do you want of me, from me?"