Exchanging Death for a Better Life

Tuesday, April 2nd
Exchanging Death for a Better Life
By: Anna Williams

Romans 6:5-11
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

It’s a fairly common thing to say this person or that brand is “dead to me”. We may easily cut something or someone out of our lives when they offend us but what about our bad habits? What about our sinful behaviors?

This passage makes it clear that the only way to truly live for Christ is to kill off (starve, discontinue, avoid) our old, sinful practices. It needs to involve a thorough internal search for attitudes and ways of thought that are contrary to God’s Word.

Sometimes, we don’t need a thorough search because we know full well we have been harboring sinful behavior and pretending it’s not that bad. We need to make a choice to deal with it - once and for all.

In Philippians 1:21 Paul said: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I think this verse can point to a promise we can hold onto during these internal battles. If we can fight to put a sinful habit to death, we have the promise of gaining abundant life in Christ.

When the Holy Spirit prompts us to surrender an aspect of our lives to him, we can trust that we will always gain far more in the exchange than anything we give up, and God will help us each step along the way!