Dead Man Walking part 1
I thought I was going to Rant about Jesus (love) as our safe hiding place, but then my Spirit got filled up with two verses that I feel are important to explore. The first one is Colossians 3:3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Which does actually fit with the hiding place theme. Safe and sound. But what I want to really look at for the next few days is the connection between that verse and this one, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11). Here's the deal. We ARE dead. That has happened, well, twice actually. It happened first when we were "in" Adam and he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death) and on that day he (we) surely died. And then we had a second death on the cross. Which was the death OF death. Look at Revelation 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Which, by the way, is why I don't believe hell is a lake of fire where God sends people in order to receive eternal torment. How can hell BE a lake of fire, when hell was cast INTO the lake of fire? And if God is a consuming fire, why do we think fire is anything but that purifying LOVE that is God? But I digress. My point is, death died on the cross. Or, really, three days after the cross when Jesus rose from the dead. Point being, we have had two deaths already. And that's plenty. We don't need to die. We need to understand that we already did. We need to reckon ourselves dead. Dead to sin. Dead to unbelief. We need to get to the place where we understand what it means in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The old man died. And I like the picture of that old man dying in the watery grave of baptism. That, to me, is HOW we reckon ourselves dead to sin. That, to me, is how we walk in newness of life. It isn't about eternal salvation in the sense that we need to do something in order to get "saved." Absent from the body is present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Jesus wasn't worried about the "afterlife." He came that we might have LIFE and have it more abundantly. He came that we might experience and enjoy HIS abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love HERE. Now. On this earth. Ruling and reigning in love as kings and priests. But in order for us to be able to experience and enjoy His life... we had to get rid of that "Adam" life. And when I say "we" had to get rid of it, I mean HE had to get rid of it. For us. Because we couldn't do it. Trying as hard as we could to be someone we're not only ever amounted in frustration and failure. You can't be someone you're not. So stop trying. If you want to find your life you have to look for it in the right place. It is hid with Christ in God. In love. Look there, and you will find it. Look in the mirror with an open face and see your true identity. Which is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. Stop trying to be someone you're not and embrace who you really are. Which is who you are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in you. You're dead. Don't worry about what has come before. You live in Him as He lives in you. Walk in newness of life!