“So you also must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 6:11 (NRSV)
Try this for a self-image: “As if, to
sin, you were dead; disconnected from it.”
This is an image that Paul wishes
to sow lastingly into our hearts and minds by the fact we are saved from our
sins by having been baptised into Christ’s death—buried with him—to be raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, in order that we would walk in
newness of life (Romans 6:1-4).
Having been baptised as a symbol
of our salvation, having been born to new life, we have every instrument of
motive to be disposed to holiness such that, to sin, we are dead.
Being dead to sin is having no
relationship with it, whatsoever, as far as our will is concerned.
And though we know we sin and are
saved by grace, which makes all the difference, we do not wallow in our sin,
but instead we turn from it as if we were unrecognised by it and we would not
recognise it—as to be so foreign to sin as a concept. We are to venture in
holiness. And such a venture could never take us in the direction of
self-righteousness. Humility should govern the process and take us to each
spiritual milestone along the journey.
Being Truly Dead to Sin
This is a difficult thing to achieve,
and we could not achieve it without the situational blessing of grace over our
lives, in order to be attracted to holiness, where the allure of sin would
dissipate. It’s a thing only God could achieve for us, by our faith to trust.
Important signposts on the journey
to being dead to our sin are becoming:
1.
Less
interested in the temptations of the flesh, even to the point of simply no
longer being tempted by sins that may have plagued us. Many would admit, for
this to take place, it would be a miracle of God’s grace.
2.
More
sincerely won to the joyous bliss of living on the path of God; ably resourced
and equipped, more and more, to live like Christ, exhibiting the Fruit of the
Spirit more and more.
3.
Less
interested in the sins of others in the way that it might affect faith; be less
judgmental; less distracted; more focused on Christ himself.
***
As a Christian, it isn’t enough to
know we are saved by grace. We need to be actively surrendered to the Lord
Jesus, such that we would be more and more dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus. We were saved to become active disciples of our Lord.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment