The Bible says you are dead to sin. When you asked Christ’s for forgiveness of sin, you were conformed to His death by dying to sin when you took your sins to the foot of the cross. Christ abolished sin so you are no longer condemned by it. You died (to self) with Him. Because He was resurrected – you live now as a new creation. Just as Christ overcame death, so did you. Sin does not have dominion over you. Sin no longer has the right or power to hold you captive. You have the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you. You may ask, “Why do I still sin?”  If sin does not have power over you, why do you struggle?

 Let’s try an analogy. At conversion, you died to self spiritually and God placed you in an eternal coffin. You are secure in Him because He bought and paid for the coffin. There is no longer any condemnation in the coffin. You cannot sin in the coffin. A coffin represents death to the body, but for a believer, it represents freedom from the difficulties of this world and your spirit is released to God to live eternally with Him. But you cannot stay in the coffin because you are still alive physically. The coffin has a latch on the inside. You have to unhook the latch, get out of the coffin and live in the world with all its ugliness and temptation. But you are a different person when you come out of the coffin. Your spirit is alive and His Spirit has made you a new person. While on the outside — in the world — you must remember the cross, and in this example, the coffin. God sees you as having died to sin and being alive in Christ. You must also think of yourself as He does – dead to sin and alive to Christ. This is your identity in Christ.

 Followers of Christ, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, are regarded as having died in Christ so they may be able to live to please Him. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (2 Corinthians 5:11-15).”

You do not have to work for His favor. He has given it to you. You do not have to kill yourself to please Him, you are pleasing to Him. He just desires to hear your voice calling to Him when in need and praising Him at all times with a thankful heart. You are alive in Christ. Live life to the fullest.

The term born again is well known in our culture and has been around since Jesus’ famous encounter with Nicodemus. Someone is called a born again Christian if they are identified as having asked for forgiveness for their sins from Christ and accepted Him into their life. They took their sins to the cross of Christ. The cruel cross of Christ signifies death. But, to be born again, you must die.

“How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for He who has died is free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him (Romans 6:2-8).”

Consider the parallels and progression between physical and spiritual life and death of a believer – born of a woman/spiritually dead due to sin; lives for self until a need for forgiveness is recognized; confesses sin, takes sin to cross and dies to self; made spiritually alive to God in Christ, realizes real life as God intended; physical death, eternal life with Christ.

Just as being born again is a two-step process, believers in Christ also die twice; death to self when their sins are nailed to the cross, then physical death (at a time already known to God) that leads to eternal life and being more alive than ever before. Have you taken your sins to the cross and died the first time? Christ is ready and waiting for you to do so. Eternal life with him does not begin only after you have no more birthdays.

Listen to the words of Henri Nouween: The great mystery of the spiritual life – the life in God – is that we don’t have to wait for it as something that will happen later. Jesus says, “Dwell in me as I dwell in you.”  It is this divine in-dwelling that is eternal life. It is the active presence of God at the center of my living – the movement of God’s Spirit within us – that gives us eternal life.

 But still, what about life after death? When we live in communion with God, when we belong to God’s own household, there is no longer any before or after. Death is no longer the dividing line.  Death has lost its power over those who belong to God, because God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Once we have tasted the joy and peace that comes from being embraced by God’s love, we know that all is well and will be well. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus says. “I have overcome the powers of death…come and dwell with me and know that where I am your God is.”

 When eternal life is our clear goal, it is not a distant goal. It is a goal that can be reached in the present moment.   Here and Now, by Henri Nouween

Believers in Christ are able to love the unlovely and forgive those who have hurt them. Where does this ability come from? “We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).” Prior to receiving Christ, man is left to his basic nature. He is separated from God and dead in his sins (Romans 6:23a). His focus is only on himself, his desires, and how everything affects him. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires (Romans 8:5a).

Jesus gives those who call on His name a new standing before Him (Romans 5:6-11). This divine transaction makes God see the repentant man as righteous in His sight (Colossians 1:22). God implants Himself as the Holy Spirit in the new believer’s heart. The Spirit works with the believer’s spirit to shape a new person and create new desires – His desires. “But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires (Romans 8:5b).”

This righteousness is nothing man can achieve due to effort. It is a gift from God. God is not opposed to effort to please and serve Him once He dwells in the believer, but He is opposed to man trying to earn salvation through good works. Likewise, He does not want believers to try to serve Him through their own strength. His desire is for His children to realize He is “Immanuel – which means, God with us (Matthew 1:23d).”

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit, that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory (Romans 8:16-17).”

It is sometimes said when a child looks a lot like their mother or father, “Their Mom, or Dad, really put their mark on that child,” meaning the child looks a lot like one particular parent. God has put His mark on His children. Christians should be recognizable as His son or daughter. His children are part of His family. Parents teach their children values and how to live. Most children love their parents and want to be obedient and pleasing. This doesn’t happen all the time, but most parents are patient and forgiving as the child matures. How much more so with our heavenly Father? Unlike, earthly parents who cannot always be with their children, the Holy Spirit is forever with His beloved. He teaches, guides, and corrects His children. He is patient and never gives up. He forgives and loves in spite of mistakes, sins, and failure. His ways are perfect instruction on how to live. He even wrote an instruction manual for His kid’s to read.

Just as children have a choice to obey their parents, so does each Christian. The best way to be obedient is choosing to stay in close relationship to the Father.

I will never forget a sermon preached by Steven Olford some 37 years ago. One phrase has stuck with me all these years. Olford said, “The secret to the Christian life is to be constantly, conspicuously, and continuously filled with the Spirit.” Nothing pleases the Father more.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25).”