Romans 6:11. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In yesterday’s reading we talked about 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.
Consider is an accounting term. It means to reckon, count, or credit. In Romans 4 it was God considering or counting us as righteous because Christ’s life has been imputed or credited to us. Now, here in Romans 6, it is us that are doing the considering.
Considering is an act of faith that will always fight against “sight.” We are called to consider ourselves dead to sin even though we just spent the entire day stumbling from sin to sin. How? Because our considering of ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is rooted in God’s considering of 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 are truly righteous.
Dead to sin.
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. Do you believe this?
Will you still sin? Yes. A lot. You are free from SIN but not free from SINNING. This means we must allow the cross to do its work in our daily lives. 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, correct it, or overlook it. Only death will do. 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. Our sinful failures are actually being used by God to transform us into Christ’s likeness. How? By exposing all our false saviors. Once our sins expose these idols of the heart we can consider our death to sin. We can count our sinful words and deeds as worthy of death. We can hang them up next to the old self. We can see them nailed to the cross.
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 are no good if we are left dead. New life is a necessity. And, like our death with Christ, our resurrection with Christ is an objective fact. Did Christ rise from the dead? Then so did we. We are complete in Christ. New creations. Seated in the heavenly places. 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 whole new nature, not just a new morality, or new behavior.
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.
Click Here to this playlist on Spotify!
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To see today’s post from the TLIC Family blog –> Click Here
To Live is Christ 