Jesus asked us to begin our Christian walk by being baptized, which says to the world we have been planted together in the likeness of his death. (Rom 6:5) When the church watches a believer lowered beneath the water, the are witnessing a promise that the Christian will die to this world. Sometimes this will cause panic in a person accustomed to the ways of the world but dying to the world is not as difficult as people would have you believe. Jesus has already died for us and we must only stay in Him and our death is accomplished knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. (Rom 6:6)
The only possible explanation for people not dying to the world is that they take pleasure from the things of this world more than they honor their covenant with God. How hypocritical of these people to say with real believers I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal 2:20) but then to live their lives any way they please. When we die to the world it will bring a type of suffering into our life that the unsaved cannot understand.
Paul knew what it was to suffer in this world and when he wrote the God of all comfort (2 Cor 1:3) in his letters, it was not an empty greeting. These words came from a man who had known the comfort of God in his life many times. We will also receive a special comfort from the Spirit when we place ourselves into a position of suffering with our Lord. The average Believer of today is trying to keep from experiencing suffering of any kind. They strive to provide for their own comfort and spend as much time as possible in luxury. This is limiting their experience with God to accidental encounters and leaves them with no spiritual power.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matt 5:4) There is no reason for anyone to mourn unless there has been a death of something they love. Some people say that we should mourn the coming death of our unsaved friends or family. That is a good reason to mourn but when people are told that they must die to the things of this world, we see real serious mourning. It will help to remember that this type of death is only for a short time here on earth. There is a promise about our death which says we will live with God someday; for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also live with Him. (Rom 6:5)
When a person is chosen to join their life with Jesus and become one with Him, they will feel the necessity to live a clean life as a representative of God. Jesus tells us now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. (John 15:3) When the scripture says that we are clean it means that Jesus has provided for our death to self and the world. It is the selfish activities of this world which are making us unclean before God. We may wash with water to clean ourselves from physical activities, but a spiritual fire must burn our heart into ashes before we are clean from our self-indulgence. The Bible teaches we must die in order to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment