Just curious if you have a (or had) a go-to book or chapter from the Bible as a follower of Christ (new or long-time follower)? And any reason why you always refer back to that book or chapter?
Sorry, I'm not sure if this is the "right" place to post, but I wanted to discover what others refer to and perhaps help me and others who are new to see the books and chapters in a different light
May God continue to share His truth!
Romans 6.
If I had a Top 3 list of chapters of the Bible, this chapter would be on it. As far as how to walk with God is concerned, this chapter offers some of the most crucial spiritual truths a believer
must grasp in order to fellowship with God. If a Christian doesn't understand and live in the light of
Romans 6 every day, they simply can't walk well with God.
In
Romans 6, Paul explained what are called the "identification truths." Every Christian has been united with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and thus freed from the power of the "old man," of unregenerate, rebellious Self, and raised into "newness of life" in Jesus Christ. Paul urged believers to "reckon" themselves as "co-crucified" with Christ, to identify with him in his death, burial and resurrection and to live every day in the reality of this union with their Savior (
Romans 6:1-11; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:24; Galatians 6:14; Colossians 2:11-13; Colossians 3:1-3, etc.). Doing so, Paul wrote, was fundamental and essential to living a holy, Christ-centered life.
Paul also, in
Romans 6, described the relational dynamic that underpins the believers walk with God, indicating that every born-again Christian is a "bond-slave" to God, a "slave of righteousness," and as such ought daily to present him/herself as a "living sacrifice" to God (
Romans 6:13-22; Romans 12:1), yielded to Him to use as He wills.
Each day, one stands before God either as a rebel, or as His "slave of righteousness." There is no third dynamic that one can be in relative to God. If one is not submitted to Him, consciously and persistently, one is in rebellion toward Him and thus cut off from joyful fellowship with Him. This isn't to say one has lost one's salvation; such a thing is impossible for a genuinely saved person. One's
relationship to God as His child is inviolate, irreversible, but one's
fellowship with Him, one's intimate communion with Him, can be totally halted by one's rebellion and sin. This is well-described in the parable of the Prodigal Son. (
Luke 15:11-32)
Romans 6, then, outlines the means by which a person lives a holy life successfully - which is crucial to "seeing God" (
Hebrews 12:14) - and explains the necessity of constant submission to Him which is essential to enjoying and being transformed by Him. The believer who lives by faith in the truths of
Romans 6, identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and presenting themselves to God throughout each day as His bond-slave is the believer who will move progressively into an ever-deepening, life-transforming experience of God.
