READ
The day you get the keys to a new house isn't the day it feels like home. Home happens slowly. You unpack boxes over a few weeks, learn which stairs creak, figure out where the coffee mugs belong. The moving day was real, and it changed everything, but the living-in-it part takes a while. Paul uses baptism to describe something similar about following Jesus.
Read Romans 6:1–14 and pay attention to the word "walk."
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the deadthrough the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all;but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
REFLECT
Paul begins by answering a question people were clearly asking: if grace covers our sin, can't we just keep on sinning so there's more grace? His reply is immediate: "By no means!" And then he explains why, using baptism as a picture.
When someone is baptized, they go under the water and come back up. Paul says that picture tells a story: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Going under stands for joining Jesus in His death. Coming up stands for rising with Him into something new.
The word to notice is "walk." Paul doesn't say "that we may feel new" or "become perfect instantly." He says we may "walk in newness of life." Walking is ordinary and repeated. It happens step by step, day after day, and that's how Paul expects this new life to show up.
That's the difference between a marker and a finish line. Baptism is a visible sign that something real has happened, like a wedding ring or the moving day. It marks a beginning. If you think of it as a finish line, you might figure you've arrived and stop paying attention. If you see it as a starting line, you keep walking, learning, and settling in.
So what does walking in newness of life look like? Usually, not what we picture. It's less about dramatic breakthroughs and more about the small, ordinary choices. Letting the other driver merge without muttering. Apologizing first when you'd rather wait. Telling the truth in a small email when a small lie would be easier. Praying for a few minutes before the day takes over. Choosing not to repeat the gossip. None of these would make a headline, but this is where a life is actually reshaped, in the ordinary days between the big moments.
Paul also gives two practical instructions. First, "count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." That's about how we think of ourselves: we're not defined by our old patterns anymore. And second, "offer yourselves to God." That's a daily thing too. Each morning, you can hand your hands, your words, and your time back to Him and say, "Use these today."
And look at how Paul ends: "sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." You'll still stumble. But grace means a stumble isn't the end of the story. You get back up and keep walking.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
What has "walking in newness of life" actually looked like in your ordinary days, not just the big moments?
Is there an area where you've treated a past decision or moment as a finish line, rather than a starting point?
What's one small thing you could "offer" to God at the start of your day this week?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
God, thank You for making us new, not because we earned it but because of what Jesus did. Forgive us for the times we've settled in as though we've already arrived, or given up as though nothing could change. Help us walk in newness of life in the small, ordinary places where most of our days are lived. Teach us to offer ourselves to You each morning. Thank You that grace is bigger than our stumbles. Amen.