Living and Dying

So I looked at my calendar today and realized that Friday, July 1 marked my six year birthday as a born-again believer, my six year anniversary as part of Christ's bride, and my six year celebration of my resurrection from death to life. It's fitting that as June ended and July started, I get a fitting reminder of the truth of Romans 6:12-14. "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace." Also Romans 8:12-13. "So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

So, one thing I've clearly learned over the last six years is that I'm now alive as a believer. Prior to believing I was dead, even though physically alive, and coming to the realization that you're truly dead is not an easy realization to come to.

However, equally true now is that I have to die now too. In fact, the book of Galatians would argue that I already did die, and that everytime I revert back to sinful patterns I am working to bring my flesh back to life (Galatians 2:18). Instead, I'm to suffocate out the desires that repeatedly try to rise up inside me. Something that is dying cannot possibly ever gain dominion over me. I need to remember always that I am dying to live. My sin must be killed so my Spirit can thrive.

And it's been a real struggle the past six years walking this thing, because I really like to focus on the good news that I'm alive. It's comforting, and it's the gospel. However, I also like focusing on the task at hand: "this sin in me must die!" I have a very hard time focusing on both, and what normally happens is this: "sin must die, so I can know I'm alive," so I focus on it too much and fall into it; "the gospel says I'm alive, so I know I am," and I confess my sin and promise never to do it again; then in my quest to never do it again, I focus on it too much, and the cycle repeats.

The hope for freedom from this cycle is found in Romans 7:24-25a. "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Instead of focusing on myself and my miserableness in failure, or even myself and the success of my victory, I need to always look to Jesus Christ my Lord. In six years of being a Christian, I've realized that the gospel of grace: "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners--and I am the worst of them" is a truth I need to reflect on constantly. I will never depart from this foundation, and the subject of that verse (1 Timothy 1:15) needs to be the subject of my life. It's not about me; it's about Him and His glory.

Soli Deo Gloria