New Birth part 3
This is where it gets exciting. We're past the second death. And we weren't harmed by it because we know that Jesus died both for us and AS us. We know that HIS death WAS our (second) death. And now, because of that finished work of the cross, we have been born again. We received a new birth. Born from above. And with that new birth came a new life! Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life! And, remember, it is NOT about us trying to live Jesus' life. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. It is about Jesus living His own life in us, and through us, and as us. But before we go on I want to take a moment to kind of explain what I mean by "as us." Because we do NOT become "Christian robots" (which is what I think religious folk mean when they say "Christian soldiers"). We do not lose ourselves, or our measure of free will. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY. Freedom. Freedom FROM sin and death... and freedom TO live and love. Jesus living as us is simply the Word (LOVE) becoming flesh. What's inside of us coming out of us as we fill ourselves to overflowing with it. Letting God love us to the point where we love others without even thinking about it. Because here's the deal: You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So if you know it, you WILL throw it. Whatever you believe manifests in your life. If you know and believe the love of God--the ultimate truth of the universe that the Father loveth the Son, and that God is YOUR heavenly Father and YOU are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased--then you WILL love others. Naturally. Without trying, or really without even thinking about it. And when you embrace your new nature--the love nature that came from the the transformation, or conformation, into the image of God's Son--you partake of the Divine Nature. You experience Jesus' life. You stop trying to conform to the world. You stop trying to fit in. You are dead to sin (unbelief) and you don't even mess with it anymore. You stop struggling with it and you simply lay it aside. When you know the truth, you can ignore the lie. You can stop trying to do in order to be. And you can start to do BECAUSE you be. You don't try to live Jesus' life, or recreate the things He did. In fact, according to John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." We can do the same stuff Jesus did--healing people, and feeding people and what have you. But the amazing part is... on His earth walk Jesus was one man. He interacted with a very small number of people, so to speak. But when His whole body (us!) starts to understand who we are... we can interact with literally millions of people. We can, in a sense, do greater works than He did. BECAUSE of the work that He finished on the cross. We can LIVE. Because of the death that we were involved in on the cross. Let me say it like this: Jesus walked on water. But we can walk in newness of life! We can love each other because He first loved us. Which is what it means to truly live. To live is to love and to love is to live. Adam was dead, even before he physically died. But because of Jesus we can live, because in Him we are alive!