Cathy and 8,500 other patients of a local hospital received their bills, along with some shocking news: They had died!

Cathy said, “I was pretty sure I was not dead, but you never know.” She said the hospital explained that it was just a computer glitch. “All it has amounted to so far,” she added, “is a pretty funny story to tell and a small annoyance.”

You may be surprised to learn about your own “death” when you read Romans 6:6, “Our old man was crucified with [Christ], . . . that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” If you are a follower of Jesus, you “died to sin” (v.2). But we know that we still sin, even though we belong to Christ.

So, what does it mean to be “crucified with Him”? It means we no longer have to be overpowered by temptation. We can choose to obey God through His power.

Commentator Thomas Schreiner says, “Believers will not experience perfect deliverance from sin in this age, so that they never sin at all. What has been shattered is not the presence of sin but the mastery of sin over believers.”

We can now “walk in newness of life” (v.4). One day, when we are resurrected to live with the Lord, we’ll be removed from the presence of sin forever.  — Anne Cetas