You Have Already Died
There is a profound truth about death that the whole world needs to know about! That is not always a bad thing! When you harvest a vegetable from your garden, it will die. Furthermore, when you eat it, it will be entirely destroyed. But the life-giving nutrition that comes from this kind of death is profound! Likewise, every seed that will bring forth life will go through a death process. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 Similarly, for you and I to experience the abundant life God has for us, we must also accept a death process – becoming dead to this world but alive to God! Apostle John knew that this kind of death was the secret to being free from this world and its passions. Here is what he said.
1 John 2:16-17 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (KJV)
The enemy tempts us to hold on to the things of this world, telling us that they will give us life. But the truth is, those who hold onto this world will stay bound to sin, addiction, and failure, keeping them from the abundant life they so desperately want. The provision of our right standing with God through Jesus declares that we have already died with Christ and can therefore step into the new life God has for us that was made available by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Access to a perfect standing with God has already been bought and paid for! Because Christ died for all, all died with him. This is a profound revelation! This revelation is why apostle Paul said that many people considered him mad or out of his mind.
2Cor 5:13-15 If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Through the death of Christ, we have already been wrecked for this world! Now we must, by faith, live in the reality of who we already are!
Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
God demonstrated his amazing love for us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Therefore, God longs for us to receive the abundant life he has for us! What God has done for us through Jesus Christ must be more than a good story – it must become the reality in which we live!
The more you receive the revelation of what God has provided for you through Christ, the more you will realize that living in God’s abundant life is not about you trying hard to die to sin, but rather living in the blessed reality that…
You Have Already Died