Romans 6:11. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In yesterday’s reading we looked at the idea of knowing that we have been crucified with Christ. Christ died once to sin and so have we. Do you know this?
If you do, then you’re ready for the next step in your sanctification – considering.
What does it mean to consider?
The word consider is an accounting term. It means to reckon or to count or to credit. Sometimes we use the theological word imputation. To count one thing as another. God considers/counts us as righteous in Christ because his life has been imputed or credited to us. Now, here in Romans 6, it is us that are doing the considering.
How is considering different from knowing?
Considering is the result of knowing. If I truly believe and am trusting in my death to sin, I will live each day in a state of considering, counting, and reckoning myself as dead to sin. Considering applies my new reality to the thinking, feeling, and choosing that I do each day. It is belief turned into attitude.
Considering is faith. And because considering is faith, it will always go against “sight.” Therefore, it might be in contrast to your feelings and your actual experiences. You will spend the day sinning and yet you are called to consider yourself dead to the power of sin. How? Because our considering is rooted in God’s counting us as righteous. He calls us what we aren’t. He calls you righteous even though you still sin. But it is by God’s gracious imputation that we truly are righteous.
Consider yourself dead to sin.
In his dying, the shed blood of Jesus has dealt with your sins. But the cross of Christ has dealt with YOU the sinner. Your co-crucifixion with Christ killed the sinner inside of you. Sin no longer has power over your life. It cannot condemn or control you. You are free to walk in faith. You no longer have to sin.
Will you still sin? Yes, all the time. You are free from SIN but not from SINNING. This means we must allow the cross to do its work in our daily lives. It means we must consider ourselves dead to sin, allowing the Holy Spirit to apply the cross to our lives.
Christian, the Spirit can only crucify sin. He can’t change it, or correct it, or overlook it. Only death will do. This killing of sin is God’s work in you. Therefore, we must allow the cross to do its deathly work in us. How? Through our sinning and our suffering. It is in our sinning and our suffering that we learn to consider ourselves dead to sin.
The temptations and trial we face every day are forcing us to confront who we really are. They aren’t meaningless. They are transforming us into Christ’s likeness. How? By exposing all the ways we are chasing another Savior King other than Jesus. Once our sinning and suffering expose these deeper heart sins, we can consider our death to sin. We can count those sins as worthy of death. We can hang them up next to the old self. We can see them nailed to the cross.
Consider yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Praise God that this scripture does not end at consider yourself dead to sin. Praise God that it takes us further into considering ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Considering ourselves dead to sin is not enough. We must also consider ourselves to be alive to God. We can’t stay dead. We must be resurrected into Christ’s new life.
We are no good if we are left dead. New life is a necessity. And, like our death, our new life is an objective fact. Did Christ rise from the dead? Then so did we. We are complete in Christ. New creations in Christ. Seated in the heavenly places in Christ. Our spiritual resurrection is not something we are waiting for. It has already happened.
Your union with Christ means that the cross got rid of the old you and the resurrection brought in the new you. The cross destroyed what God cannot stand. The resurrection brought to life all that God desires. Union with Christ’s resurrection gives you a new nature. Not just a new morality, or new behavior. These alone are never enough. Getting better will not save you. Only death and resurrection will.
“To live is Christ” is the daily, moment by moment, discipline of considering who you really are. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. This is your new reality. A new glorious reality that we are called to both rest in and walk in.
You
How often do you consider your identity in Christ?
You in Christ
Why is it so important to not only consider ourselves dead to sin but also alive to God?
Christ in you
How can you walk in the newness of Christ’s life today?
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Playlist: Alive to God.
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To see today’s post from the TLIC Family blog –> Click Here
To Live is Christ 