Killing Time

What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall  we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainlly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurection.  Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
Romans 6: 1-6 NKJV

It's one of the most misunderstood truths in scripture.   How many christians hold fast to the belief that they have DIED and that our Lord Jesus lives within them?  I know this to be true, because I was one of those who didn't unnderstand this truth as well.  Not only that, I have seen christian brothers around me who struggle with this concept as well.  It's certainly not an easy concept to wrap our beliefs around, but is backed up by scripture.

Who himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might llive for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed.
1 Peter 2:24 NKJV

We don't question that God so loved the world that he gave his son Jesus as a sin sacrafice.  Furthermore, we don't question that Jesus, when his time had come, gave himself as a sacrafice for the sins of the entire world.  We also hold fast to our belief that, three days later, Christ was resurected.  The story of Gods salvation plan for us all is pretty much locked into our collective memories.  However, there's one part that more than a few of us have missed.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the llife which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galations 2:20 NKJV

We've spent alot of time in our Sunday morning gatherings in discussion of this very topic.  Yes, christian men still struggle with the concept that our Lord Jesus really lives within us.  Why is this still a issue?  After all, we have Gods word to validate our true identity in Christ.  That former life of ours that Jesus gave himself as a sin sacrafice for has been done away with, it's over!  This is the point that Paul is trying to make in Galations 2:20.  If Jesus died  on the cross for our sins once and for all, THAT part of us no longer  exists.  What is left is our redeemed new creation that Jesus now inhabits.  When we accept the work that Christ did for us,  we no longer need worry about  the sins of our past, they're covered.  We are the beneficiaries not only of Gods endless love, but of the redeeming work of Jesus.

~Scott~