Alive and Dead at the same time…

At lunch with Christian friends, we discussed the value system of the world, particular some who are often in the news, and the difference between what they want out of life and what we want. Well, most of the time.

That difference mainly amounts to our realization that we “can’t take it with us” so most of what is important to many, like money, power, and fame, is not important to us. Well, most of the time.

This is because of a truth Jesus stated in verses like this one:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:24–26)

Piper puts it this way: “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. . . .  when I am dead, I will not care what they do with my body. It will make no difference to me. I will be home with Jesus. That’s the way it is now, too, if I have died already with Christ, which all Christians have: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’ (Galatians 5:24). Crucified means dead. So in a profound sense I am dead on the earth and my life is ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3). So it just doesn’t matter what happens to me here on earth.

However, most of us can say what a young missionary once said: “My problem is that a living sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar.” We so easily forget that we are dead, that is, our old nature is separated from God, cannot bear fruit, and is useless. The world and the Liar cannot make appeals to our new nature, but both will attack and mess with that old dead one. It seems odd that dead listens to other dead entities. Our lunch discussion included personal examples of  this battle.

Piper IDs it by pointing out that we are to “hate this life in this world” at least in the sense that we don’t give it much thought or care what happens to us. It doesn’t matter because we are dead to it… like a dead person is not concerned about possessions, being lied about, being famous, having much or little, and so on. 

Instead, our concern is to follow Jesus. And we do, most of the time. When do we crawl off the altar or come down from that cross? I get side-tracked by ordinary stuff. One friend shared how she tends to second-guess what God tells her to do. Another says, “I just want things to go smoothly.” We have I-trouble and our ears sometimes do not hear that still, small voice. Short term memory loss? 

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:11–13)

Excuses aside, it is a choice. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). “Like a grain of wheat, fall into the ground and die.” Choose it. “Hate your life in this world.”

The result is much fruit. Paul said, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things” (Philippians 3:8). Most of us know what that means. Yet many are not happy with the idea of suffering loss. This is what makes me less fruitful than Paul. Not that I live in a different era, or place, or am a woman, or need to take care of my home and family. The real reason is that I-trouble.

PRAY: Jesus, this is a sharp reminder that life is short and if any of it will have eternal value, it will not come from the dead old me, only from the new life that exists and is empowered because of You. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Romans 8:7) Make that distinction between dead to sin and alive to You even sharper, and remind me often. I need it, not just most of the time, but all of the time.

Put off the dead stuff…

Imagine having a billion dollar bank account, getting statements each month, but not believing it, so you are working hard to keep afloat financially. If that seems silly, imagine having faith in Christ and being dead to sin, reading what God says and still not sure this is true, particularly each time you disobey God. In both cases, inner thoughts do not line up with facts like this:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:1–10)

Key to both issues is what I am listening to? Is it the statements regarding my wealth? Is it the Word of God stating my status? Or am I looking at something else? The above passage asks, “If you have been raised with Christ” — a question puts those who hear it into a dilemma. How do I measure the answer?

I remember one man who claimed to be sinless. He said that salvation was death to sin and since he was saved, he no longer sinned. Anyone who knew him knew otherwise, but this man measured his answer by what he wanted to be true, and that desire blinded him to reality:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

If I have money in the bank and yet insist I am poor and do not rely on that money, I would be like a person who claims to be saved, but is not relying on the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem him. I might be trying hard to redeem myself, or like the man I knew, denying I needed further work and denying there is any sin left to fight. What is true?

Today’s devotional talks about reckoning or considering. The Bible says that because of faith in God’s Word, I have died and my life is hidden with Christ in God. But it also speaks of earthly things in me, things to put off and not rely on or be involved in. I have to live according to what God says, not according to what I think or want.

The error comes by supposing “to live I must first die” or lose my life and find my life hid with God. However, the Bible says I am already dead. I don’t need to die, but to realize what I already am dead to that old life because of what Jesus has done. Reckoning is thinking the truth, not making it happen. When I think the truth, it shows up in the way I live, not the other way around. In other words, I don’t have to make a large income and deposit it in my account because that account is already full, established, there for me to live. Not ignore as if I didn’t have it and had to work hard to get it.

Putting off the old way is realizing the old way is a lie and no longer alive. Instead, I am not spiritual poor but very rich in the resources of my Redeemer!

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Losing the old life is key to discovering the new, but key to losing the old life is realizing and believing it is already lost, dead to God and useless. What I have in Christ is life and truth and reality, not a charge to go get it.

PRAY: Feelings, sinful behavior, any kind of selfishness can mess with truth, and Jesus, that is a big reason You tell me to shed that stuff and live in the joy You give. It happens by loving You and loving others and reckoning truth about me — truth that You proclaim and even put in writing for me to read and rejoice — to believe and obey. Sometimes this is difficult to explain, yet knowing the truth sets me free from that deceptive and useless self-effort.

 

A life given for our life...

In Canada, today is Remembrance Day. In the USA, it is called Veteran’s Day. Either way, this day we are to honor those who gave their lives that we might live in freedom from oppressive entities that tried to rule over us.

This day bears a vivid resemblance to what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us when He went to war against sin and Satan, dying on the cross that we might be free from sin that otherwise rules our lives. The Bible lists some of those extreme sins, such as murder, hatred, and so on, but it also spells out the root of all of them:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Doing my own thing is a sin that is expressed in so many ways, some extreme and some easily hidden, yet nevertheless my way rather than the way of the Lord.

As I wear a poppy and remember the men and women who gave their lives for our physical freedom, I also think about Jesus who gave His life for my spiritual freedom so I could be no longer a slave to sin but a child of God, able to truly have a choice in what I do. While an unforgiven sinner, my way was the only way, my only choice, but now, in Christ, I can choose to obey Him and enjoy freedom. It is just as He said to those who claimed to believe in Him:

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31–36)

This isn’t about freedom to do as I please. It is the freedom from having no another choice than going my own way — which is sin!

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:1–7)

The word ‘death’ has several meanings, yet most of them are about separation… separation of the spirit from the body as in physical death, or separation of the soul from God as in spiritual death, or separation from sin to serve Christ as in being dead to sin and alive to God in the new life that Jesus gives. This is a death most welcome because it set me free from the only choice of running my own life, to the two choices: walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. The NT describes this well. See Romans 6:8-18 and also:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery… But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:1; 16–18)

PRAY: Jesus, the wonder of being able to walk in the Spirit certainly fills life with continual God-surprises. Not only do unexpected blessings happen to me, but I say and do things that are not premeditated and surprise me and bring blessings and smiles to others. Your freedom is utterly amazing and most certainly the way to live. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) And the red poppy reminds me also of Your great sacrifice.

Self-Denial

 

The word for today is YIELD. A simple search in the English Bible gives only nine references using almost as many different Greek words. Most of them mean to produce something, or give off something which is what the word used here means:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. (Matthew 27:50)

The only one that speaks of consecration to God in the sense of giving all of me into His care is expressed in a negative sense in relation to false teachers:

… to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:5)

A better term is SELF-DENIAL It means to deny myself by repudiating any gratification of self-centered desires and values that are outside of God's will and will not glorify Him. One writer describes it as getting out of the driver’s seat so that God is in that place, denying self any right to master my life. 

Jesus said it this way: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This “cross” is not about hardships as many use the term, but about dying to our old way of life.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

These verses make it clear that this is about considering “self’ being separated from God in a state called spiritual death, the state of anyone who is not “alive” through faith in Christ. However…

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Because this is true, I can live accordingly. Being able to deny sin and selfishness affirms that I believe the above verse. It is a faith issue. If I think I have rights and my way is okay, then I am not believing God, at least not for everyday life. Yet God’s Word affirms that those who believe in Christ for eternal life only will learn otherwise:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)

As God teaches me to deny self, He also teaches me to identify self. I want good things, but good may not be best. It is His will to which I must yield, not my own, no matter how good my desires might seem. Jesus did say, “Not my will but thine be done.” For that reason, the goal is to… “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14) and to “present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is my spiritual worship, and to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of my mind, that by testing I may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2, personalized)

PRAY: Lord, in the busyness and duties of this day, remind me often that Your will means abundant life and the very best for me. Help me think that way when the challenges come. They always do, and You are always here to guide me into self-denial and being wholly yielded to Your will. Amen.

God uses suffering…

 

As I watch my hubby struggling to move in any direction without severe pain, God is making me more aware of the need to be disciplined, not so much about moving my body but about not letting it dictate to me what I can and cannot do.

A few weeks ago, it was my turn. After few days in the hospital, God turned my focus by showing me how easily I can let the desire for personal comfort be an ambition. Had Jesus done that, there would be no salvation or the opportunity to be united to Him. He would never have gone to the cross if He put His comfort above obedience.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)

It works the same in our perfecting. We suffer and in that suffering we learn to let God have His way with us. He could use it to comfort us for another reason…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. (2 Corinthians 1:3–6)

This is how I learn empathy. If I am never sick, then I cannot understand the struggles of sick people, never mind feel their pain or comfort them.

But there is another lesson. God wants me to be perfected by suffering, meaning that I will seek the filling of the Holy Spirit and be bearing His fruit, including joy — rather than whining and feeling sorry for myself. I’m sure this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote:

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

My hubby knows that God is using this pain in his life. Both of us see how the Lord has used pain in the life of our friend B.T. He is joyful all the time, no matter what is going on in his body. He is a delight to be around because God has perfected his spiritual walk with suffering.

Most people complain, run to the doctor or pills or booze, to get it fixed rather than seek the will of God. How badly we need that “Not my will but thine be done” attitude that Jesus had.

As for me, taking care of him involves loving patience and help with what he is unable to do because of the pain. He will heal and yet the larger thing is that through this, God has a great purpose.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, give my hubby what he needs to trust You in this trial. I thank You that he can laugh even in pain and seek Your face and Your will for him. Grant him the ability to surrender to You and wait on You for the blessings to come. And give me what I need to encourage and care for him.

Maturity is not about age…

 
The few people I know that are afflicted with bi-polar problems struggle to explain what life is like for them. This is a difficult condition to understand. For me, the spiritual version is easier to understand. As a Christian, I have a new nature from Christ. My old nature is said to be “dead” meaning it is separated from God (and always has been) and cannot live like a godly person.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

However, that old nature is a stubborn tenant and tries to remain in charge even though new life from Christ means that I have another way to think and live. My new preferences and purposes are like Christ’s desires. If this were not so, I could not call myself a Christian. I am defined by the divine nature of Jesus.

The goal of God is that I cease from my own efforts entirely and by faith put on Christ, letting Him live in me and work in me to both desire and do His will. The idea is to abandon myself entirely to Him. He is my life, my destiny and I am to be entirely committed to let Him rule my thoughts, words, everything. The NT describes it like putting off an old garment and putting on this new life.  

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:9–10)

The problems come with shedding those old habits. Pride and practice make many of them seem ‘good enough’ or the old habits so easily happen without thinking. For instance, I grew up on a farm where every meal had a dessert. We worked hard and ate well. Now that the physical labor is not so vigorous, I don’t need that much sugar, but the habit has me craving a dessert after a meal. Mentally I know better but the habit is hard to put off.

It is the same with many behaviors. The new life in Christ wants me to think like Jesus but the old life fights it, along with the help of the world (all those TV commercials about food and recipes for yummy looking cakes and cookies, for instance) and the liar who tries to convince me that ‘everyone does it’ or that ‘just once won’t hurt’ or some other excuse to abandon old habits. But the Bible says:

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)

This is precisely why I need a Savior. The battle is hopelessly lost without the divine power in the new life of Christ. I need to trust Him for whatever is needed to put off those old ways and live for Him and be like Him.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

PRAY: Jesus, we who are getting older complain how much longer it takes to do normal chores and how much more difficult they get as our bodies become less cooperative. I recall the young man who said to me, “Getting older must make it easier to be a Christian.” I laughed, but there are days when this is not funny. The weakness of aging is one thing that discourages putting off the old and putting on the new. I am thankful that your “strength is perfected in weakness” — otherwise I fear this would be a losing battle.

Putting to death that which is dead . . .

Called up to serve in the military is a good illustration of salvation. God called me to be in His family, and as soon as that happened, I became a Christian. However, like a soldier goes to bootcamp, I had to learn how to act like the new person I already am.

There are two sides to this illustration. The other side is that old civilian life. It is over. Even though what a soldier does with it is not as extreme as what God does with a Christian’s old life, it still needs to be left behind. Simply put, the old life of believers is and always has been dead to God, separated from Him by sin. With the new life, I am continually learning how to deal with the old, continually realizing that it is a dead thing, separated from God and unable to serve Him.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:6–8)

A young missionary explained how that new life must continually be offered up as a sacrifice. She said, “The big problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.”

I’ve often quoted her, but it is not the new creation that gives us the problem of crawling away from God; it is the old nature, the part of us that refuses to lie down and quit. This is the reason God gives us the challenge of continually denying it, putting it to death. (I see myself beating it with a stick!) A dead thing cannot function and if we “consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” then it is easier to not allow sin to “reign in our mortal body, to make us obey its passions” (see Romans 6)

The book called “Atomic Habits” is about giving ourselves a strong new identity so that we can persist in reaching our goals. Without realizing it, the author is describing how the Gospel works, only we don’t do the “new person” part . . . God does. He made me a “new creation” and gave me a new identity. He tells me to live according to who I now am. As for the old me, I’m to reckon or consider that a dead thing, useless and interfering with new life.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:24–26)

This isn’t as easy as it might sound. The old nature does not want to go away quietly. How easily I can be conceited, even about my spiritual life. Yikes, that is an oxymoron. Conceit is bad for my spirituality, but it also provokes others to competitive attitudes. I can also envy others who seem closer to God than I am without stopping to think that such envy keeps me from being close to God. All such nonsense is to be crucified; it does not come from the Holy Spirit and the new life God gives.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, I’m thankful that the temptations to think such old dead thoughts are not sin; sin is giving in to them and letting them rule me. My challenge for today is to refuse to let any pride and envy live in my heart and to quickly recognize such deadness and put it in the grave where it belongs. May Your Spirit put life in and boot out any deadness that tries to take His place.

Today’s thankful list . . .

Blessed time of prayer with friends.

Answered prayer.

A good workout at the gym.

The ability to take a nap even with the television on.

Leftover chicken in noodles with veggies and sauce.

Sunshine after ten days of cloud and rain.

Who am I?

Part of my Christian experience involved studying and teaching the topic of biblical self-image. We who are Christian need to view ourselves as both sinners and saints, worthy of wrath yet objects of mercy. It isn’t one or the other but both at the same time, a view that requires faith and the Spirit of God to pull off.

The problem with such a topic is the focus — obviously it is on self, but whenever I put it there, I’m walking into dangerous territory. The Bible says I cannot serve God and money — but I also cannot serve God and self.

Tozer lists some of the self-centered dangers: self-love, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-admiration, self-aggrandizement and self-pity. Many of the activities of life can be done for these reasons rather than doing them in obedience to the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God.

How to get past this stuff is important, but the actual doing of it is not easy. Self-effort obviously cannot be the means. How do Christians think differently about themselves when self it is the most natural object of our affection? I’ve prayed about this, and God always surprises me with His answers even though they come right out of Scripture that I’ve read and reread, passages like this one:

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:5–11)

The bottom line is that I’m to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God. I’ve known that, but this past couple of weeks I’ve a vivid illustration that makes the doing of it a little easier. That is, I can think more easily about being dead to sin now that I am totally depending on a little computer with a battery to keep me alive!

God has given me a perfect verse for right now . . .

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)

My body and heart are not my source of life — God is. The heart may not work as it once did, but He gives me what I need, not only now but forever. This makes it much easier to think of myself as crucified with Christ yet alive to God in Christ Jesus.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

I’d never have guessed that to think rightly about myself would involve a pacemaker and the destruction of a vital part of my heart, but God knew how to answer my prayer. He always does.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, today is a new day. I’m listening for Your instruction and encouragement. Being crucified with You is a good thing because it means deadness to sin. Satan has his ways of trying to convince me that it is okay to listen to and live by that old sinful self, but Your life in me is all that matters and is all that is real! Old things will not last, but in You, I will live forever.