Skip to main content

dead to sin. alive to God


2 Corinthians 5:14 (NLT)
Whatever we do, it is because Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live.

Do you ever question your actions or why you make the decisions that you do?  Our decisions are based on the things that we believe.  If we believe what God says, we will decide to act upon what we learned from God about us.

To believe that our sin nature died with Jesus and that we now live in a sweeter and forgiven way is to believe what God said.  Jesus died for us.  Because of that we make decisions that will help us win.  We make decisions that point us and others in the ways where we will find victory, peace and even abundance.  But a choice has to be made.

Ephesians 4:22 (NLT)
throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.

To throw off doesn’t mean we hide our evil nature in the closet somewhere.  It doesn’t mean that we sweep it under the rug and hope no one finds it.  We all agree that most of sin is rotten and we don’t want to keep it around.  Yet we all will agree that some sin is a lot of fun, at least for a while.

1 Corinthians 1:30 NLT
God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom.

God changed things.  He changed me.  He is changing you.  The fact that we have to rely on Him makes us stretch our faith believing God for our freedom.  That freedom is huge and what each of us may have so that we will have success or the abundant life that God promised us throughout the Bible. 

The choice is ours.  Be dead to sin.  Live the truth since you are alive to God.  Live by the spirit.

Galatians 5:24-25 NLT
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.  Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!
10 comments
Read more

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.  One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns.  When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her.  Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.  Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?"  Beverly said, "Why yes I do."  Edith said, "Well, what do you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

wash feet, sharing hope

  John 13:4-5,14 NLT  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him… 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. Jesus set the example we follow.  He served.  He valued and gave value to others.  That is why we choose to serve. For 18 years our church has shared an outreach called back2school, and for 16 of those years we have chosen to give students brand new shoes and socks as well as washing their feet.  It is one of the most important parts of this event. Washing feet is a humbling experience where both the give and the receiver learn how to share some moments that might change their lives.  Jesus said we should do this.  See the verse above.  Follow His example, do what He did, and give far more than you will ever know....
Post a Comment
Read more