“Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life – no longer at sin’s every beck and call!  What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive He brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives.  Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time – remember you’ve been raised from the dead! – into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer.  You’re living in the freedom of God  (Romans 6:11-14).” – from The Message.

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.

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