Scripture: Romans 6:1-14 (NIV)

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.

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. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Grand Moff Tarkin shocked the military leaders when he strode into their conference room and told them that the Emperor had dissolved the Imperial Senate, putting form to the substance that had been in place since Palpatine told Mace Windu he was the Senate. While as Emperor Palpatine had allowed the Senate to meet as a way of pacifying some people and trying to make it seem like there was still a connection to the Republic, he finally decided to do away with the pretense and keep all the power to himself.

For most people in that galaxy, not much changed. The harsh rule of the Empire continued with or without a Senate to try to alleviate any of it. In truth, some of the senators were going along with the Empire anyway, while some that were fighting it, like Mon Mothma, had already left to be more active in the Rebellion. There were still some that were loyal to the Republic in the body, such as Bail Organa, but they weren’t many and they couldn’t do much under Palpatine’s firm hand.

In today’s Scripture, Paul is writing about another change in leadership but a change that makes much more of an impact on a life. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, things can’t continue the way we had been going. We can’t live that life of sin that we’d been living, expecting that God will continue to give His grace in larger and larger measures. Our lives need to radically change and show Who is the one in charge of us now.

We reflect our master. If we are sinning without remorse, God is not the one in charge of us and we are on the wrong path. We need to show Jesus in our lives, staying away from sin as much as possible and asking forgiveness when we slip. God’s grace is there for the contrite and sincere heart. He knows that we will sin, but we don’t need to be trying to sin or even being blasé about whether we sin or not.

We need to sweep sin’s control from our lives and let God take full command of our hearts. Have you done that? It is something we always need to be monitoring and in prayer about. Make sure you have the right leadership in your life today!