Those Rare Old Times

~He did it again?~

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 of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon  yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6-11 NKJV

I admit that the latest coments by presidential candadate Donald Trump really did not take me by surprise all too much.  By now, we all know who Donald Trump is, and we've become accustomed to his non politically correct nature.  It is this which, in my opinion, gives him part of his edge over the liberal bastion Hillary Clinton.  We seem to forget that it is Hillary Clinton who, while crying about transperency in government, took it upon herself to cow tow to wall street bankers for rich donations, while at the same time screeching that the rich were the cause of our economic issues, brilliant.  But, I digress.  What did not surprise me about Trumps latest round of foot in mouth disease was the usual suspects that calledfor him to end his campaign run.  A story about people living in glass houses immediately comes to mind.  Now, I myself have been known to go off on my share of rants which many would see as far from politically correct.  Does this make me a bad person deserving to burn in hell?  Certainly not, for my future now resides with Christ Jesus.  Now, do I know Donald Trumps position in Jesus?  No, for that is up to him and him alone, as my own decision to accept Christ was up to me.  What of those comments which I have made in the past?  Well, as the apostle Paul claims in Romans 6, this was all part of my "Old man" which has been put to death with Christ Jesus on the cross.  For I once walked as those who live in the world walked.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as the others.
Ephesians 2: 1-3 NKJV

So the question we will ask is, what spirit is it in which we walk today?  Are we among the sons of disobedience or do we walk in the Spirit of Christ Jesus?  One thing we cannot escape is that we all have that distinction of once walking in the course of this world which surrounds us.  This indeed is our "Old man" which the apostle Paul spoke of in Romans 6.  For before we accepted Christ Jesus, we walked according to the world.  According to that sin nature which surrounded us.  What changed?  Christ Jesus!  For it is Jesus who finally put to death that old man which we walked in for so long.  He nailed it to the cross with Him.  It is because of this very act of selflessness that we today who have accepted Christ Jesus can lay claim to the fact that we no longer live "In the world."  Those days have now come and gone.  We are no longer sinners, but new creations in Christ.  My friend Dennis recently commented to me that focusing on our past sins may not be appropriate, and he's right.  For those former acts, our former conduct, is now dead and gone thanks to the death and resurection of Christ.  As Paul tells us, we ought to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

~Scott~