“And he personally bore our
sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good.” - 1 Peter 2:24
There comes a time in
everyone’s life when we come to a crisis point. We are at a crossroads and we
have a decision to make. We can either remain with the crowd traversing the
wide road, or proceed along the narrow road instead. We have a choice to lay
down our life and to take up the life of Christ, or to reject the Son of God
and to continue on in our sin and misery. The tragedy is that if we choose to
maintain control over our own life rather than surrendering it to Jesus, we
will eventually lose our life for eternity.
Salvation includes two
steps: 1.) Believing that Jesus is God who came in the flesh. 2.) Repenting of
our sins, which means surrendering our life to Christ. Surrender is the part of salvation that most people ignore. You see, at the moment of salvation, your spirit,
which was once dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) is now alive in Christ. It is no longer us, but
Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20). Our true life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Once we are saved from sin
and eternity separated from God, the process of sanctification begins. God’s
Spirit rids our soul of carnality and replaces it with holiness. This takes a
lifetime, but it is a daily process. We are rewarded in heaven for our holiness
here on earth; plus, we are so much healthier and happier in this life, without
the consequences of those sins ruining our life.
Those who belong to Christ
Jesus die daily to our carnal, fleshly nature with all of its passions and
desires (Galatians 5:24) As far as God is concerned, our old
life is already dead. Now, Christ is the center of our new life. We live each
day without participating in our former behavior with our old, carnal friends;
and we have nothing to do with any moral perversion or sin of any kind. We take
off the old nature and put on the new Christ-like nature just like we change our
clothes at the start of each new day.
We now consider ourselves
dead to sin of any type and alive in God through Christ (Romans
6:11). As we grow in Christ, sinful
behavior no longer appeals to us. Sin and its lust have no power to deceive us
any longer. We have no desire to allow our body to be used for sinful purposes.
Instead, we put our lives in God’s hands for Him to use for His purpose (Romans
6:11-14). We now live productive lives
for God. We are not bound to the letter of the traditions of the law, but we
are free to serve God in the Spirit of truth and righteousness (Romans
7:4-6). God has no desire for us to be
just good enough. If we cooperate with Him, He will make it perfect.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help us to take up our cross daily and to crucify the flesh, even though this is the hardest thing we ever have to do with our life (Matthew 16: 24-26). To die to self, when everything in us is crying out to live life in our own way, is impossible to do in our own strength. We know You do not want to torment us, but to kill us…and our old, sinful nature. You are not happy with half-hearted devotion from us. You want all of us and You give us all of You in its place.
Thought for the Day:
God is not just interested
in rewiring us or replacing our plumbing, but in making us into a completely
new temple in which He can dwell. 