August 7, 2020: Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ...Is That How You're Living Your Life in Christ?

Romans 6:1–4

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

The following is a story written in "Our Daily Bread", on August 3rd, 2020:

For twenty-nine years after World War II ended, Hiroo Onoda hid in the jungle, refusing to believe his country had surrendered. Japanese military leaders had dispatched Onoda to a remote island in the Philippines (Lubang) with orders to spy on the Allied forces. Long after a peace treaty had been signed and hostilities ceased, Onoda remained in the wilderness. In 1974, Onoda’s commanding officer traveled to the island to find him and convince him the war was over.

Many of us as Christians, live our lives as Hiroo Onoda did in the jungle of the Philippines, refusing to believe that the battle is over. Our battle with sin and death has already been won by our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary.

So, I raise the question: So why are so many of us still living a defeated life? Why are we still walking around as if "sin" is still controlling and have power in our lives? It is not until our complete, and "absolute surrender" to the "power of the Cross", that we will no longer be controlled under the power of sin. Sin and death have been crucified on the cross with our Lord along with ours as well.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

So let us now live as "dead to sin" and "alive in Christ"! Our complete and absolute surrender to God should begin with a "prayer of surrender" first, and then daily wake up and read God's word for His power and then moment-by-moment, day-by-day, begin living a life surrendered to God's will and His power in your lives. May our lives portray the life our Lord Jesus empowered us with, a life dead to sin, and alive in Him.