February 18 – Count Yourself

“Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 6:11)

IN WORD:
Nowhere is there a clearer connection between wisdom — the renewed mind that God gives us in Christ — and our life in the Spirit than in this verse. Our encounter with life in Christ, according to Paul, stems from what we know to be true. The truth of our life is a matter of what Jesus did for us on the Cross and the third day; our experience of it is a matter of our mental grasp of this truth. We are to count ourselves dead but also alive. Other translations also make it an issue of our thought life. We are to consider, to reckon, to count on the truth: We died with Jesus and we are raised with Him.
Many Christians miss out on experiencing the victorious, joy-filled life, not because they aren’t in fact crucified and raised in Jesus, but because they don’t know it. Perhaps it is only a theological belief or a matter of creed. Perhaps it is misunderstood as something to strive for rather than to accept. Perhaps it is seen as a future possibility rather than an established position. None of that is enough. A Christian will really experience the joy & power & victory of the Christian life when he or she believes its foundation: We were crucified with Jesus, and now we are raised in His life. And it must be more than belief; we must know it, count on it, cling to it as a rock-solid event as certain as the day we graduated, got married, or signed a contract.

IN DEED:
Too many Christians are trying to make the Christian experience true for them. They have put the cart before the horse. Experience doesn’t lead to truth; truth leads to experience. Instead of praying for the resurrected life, accept it and live it. Instead of hoping you will die to sin, count on the fact that you already have. Our struggles are often only a product of how we see ourselves. If we see ourselves as sinners trying to be better Christians, that is how we will live. If we see ourselves as sinners who were buried with Christ and raised to new life, that too is how we will live. Romans 6:11 tells us what to see. Count on it, and watch your experience line up with the truth.

“You do not need to wait . . . Before beginning to live eternally.”
-James S. Stewart-