God buries us with Christ in baptism and He raises us by His glory from having a spirit dead in sin so we can walk as a new creation with a new life (Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17). If we continue to walk in our carnal nature, we will die, but if we allow God’s Spirit to put our sinful lifestyle to death, we will live with Him for eternity (Romans 8:13).
Jesus suffered for us in His body and soul, and He calls us to have this same mind in us. If we suffer in the flesh, sin no longer has dominion over us, because there is no appeal in our soul to partake in those practices any longer. Now, we live for the will of God rather than human passions (1 Peter 4:1-2; Hebrews 10:36).
We are crucified with Jesus, and the life we now live in this body of flesh, we live through Jesus who lives in us. His faith sustains us, and He loved us enough to sacrifice His life for us. Our body is now the temple of God’s Spirit, and we are bought with the price of Jesus’ torture and cruel death (Galatians 2:20-21; Romans 12:1-2).
We honor God with our thoughts, words, and deeds. We have nothing to fear, and nothing that will cause us discouragement, because He is now our God. He calls us to daily follow Him and to die to our flesh (Luke 9:23). He strengthens us, helps us, and holds us up with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
A seed dies in the earth prior to bearing fruit (John 12:24). That is one benefit of us dying to our flesh. We reap fewer negative effects from our choices. We do not use the grace of God as an excuse to sin, because we will reap whatever we sow into our life. He baptized and buried us into His death. We look forward to our resurrection in Him as well (Romans 6: 1-23).
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for Your free gift of eternal life through Jesus’ sacrifices for us (Romans 6:23; John 3:16-18). Thank You also that Jesus bore our sins in his body on Calvary’s cross so we may die to sin and live in His righteousness. His wounds healed us in body, soul, and spirit (1 Peter 2:24). Remind us that we now live for Christ, and we gain access to Your Heavenly Kingdom when we die to our human desires (Philippians 1:21).
Thank You for Your encouragement in Your Word, the comfort from Your love, the fullness of Your Holy Spirit within us, and for Your compassion and affection (Philippians 2:1-30). We want our desires to decrease so You can increase within us (John 3:30). Help us to realize that by attempting to control our own life, we will lose it; but by living each moment in Your control, we save our life from many trials and eternal death and torment. We praise You with our whole heart and trust in You alone (Luke 9:23-24).
Thoughts for the Day:
We know that if we accept that we are sinners, believe that Jesus is our Savior, and confess our sins to Him, we will also live with Christ in us as He works through us (2 Timothy 2:11). Our goal in life as converted Believers is to stop living for the fulfillment of our human passions, and to focus on living in the very center of God’s will for each of us. Living in the will of God is the happiest place on earth (1 Peter 4:1-11; Ephesians 2:8-10).
