For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus...Romans 6:10-11.
I doubt I'll ever fully understand this truth. I'll most likely remain in kindergarten over this one as well as the twenty-eight thousand other gems which escape my discernment. Yet, we must make effort to live His Word. What does it mean when we are told to consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God?
For the moment I simply want to point out that sin (ours or someone elses) does not rule our mood, our day, our course. The resurrection power of Jesus does. When discouraged we say what of such a one? That person seems really "down" today. Such is a confession which is the opposite of "up"....or of resurrection. If we live in the "up-ness" of Christ we are dwelling in the resurrection life.
Is one unable to find reason to be down? Of course not. Reflecting for only a moment will usher in reason enough to go insane. However, our focus is on the "upside" of life; the resurrected Christ side of life. We must become dead to sin. It's not that we don't sin but it has no effect on us. If we say we have no sin we are a liar and the truth isn't in us...I John 1:8. It's what we do with sin; rid ourselves of it by confessing it and moving upward or dwelling on it by getting it out and polishing it with the cloths of downward mood swings.
Focusing on sin (yours or mine) and refusing to "arise" from the ash heap keeps us dwelling there. We are called to be alive....really alive. How alive is alive? It's measured by how sure we are His resurrection fits our walk. It's not about us. It's about us in His shoes and Him in our shoes. We have reason to hope; not by the gauge of how we are doing, but how He did.
We are alive when our focus is on Jesus. If our attention is on the dark deeds of others who are back in the boat we may find accurate judgment but will sink in the conflict of distracting winds.
2 comments:
I've read this post over and over and wanted to say something...but just couldn't get the right words out.
I love the saying that goes something like "You can't control the actions of others, but you can only control your reaction"
I think that is so true when it comes to sin.
Jesus didn't try to control what others were doing. He allowed them their sins and their consequences followed their actions. Sure, He could have reacted to it in the way that I probably would today. He could have tried to go along and "fix" everyone, but I beleive God allowed others to be effected by sin so that they would choose the right path.....or not.
The upside of life is so much greater than down could ever be.
Confession is such a precious thing. It's a gift that He has given us for evaluation of our lives. Confession is something I practice daily between us. But not only do I confess to our Father, I confess to those who He has put here to keep me accountable. Those true friends that I can count on to love me no matter what.
I have tried many times to put myself his HIS shoes, but NEVER wanted Him to walk in mine. But the fact is, not matter how hard I try, He's already been there.
LIke Brenda, I came back to this several times. Printed it out and re-read it and remained pretty much speechless for a response.
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