I, in my sinful, fleshly self have been crucified with Christ. My sin nature no longer has power over me. Romans 6:6-7 states it very clearly. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." Once freed through Christ, we no longer live in subjection to our sin nature. It is gone - done away with! So why do I keep living in a state of constant struggle? Why does it seem like I've seen this scenery before?
Colossians chapter two addresses this question: Vs. 20 - "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:"? Paul continues, in Colossians chapter 3, to address this matter by saying that since we died with Christ, and our lives are now hidden with Christ, we should make a practice of continuing to put to death the things that belong to our earthly nature (immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolotry). Since our old self is gone, we have access fully, freely, and completely to the new self (created to be like God)!!! We have the wings, the jets, the fuel for the full journey!
So it seems to me that I get stuck on the first step of the process. I've been crucified with Christ and set free from sin! Yippee! Now what? It doesn't end there. Passage after passage of scripture speaks of a continual process of putting to death, doing away with, considering rubbish that which belonged to our earthly nature or flesh. Instead, I continue to subject myself to the laws of gravity, taxiing around the runway forgetting that I have been equipped with everything I need for the flight!
Lord, give me the boldness to leave the ground!
Picture of the Day
These are two very special items right now. God blessed me with this pair of boots a few weeks ago - which is wonderful as my other pair of dress boots were coming apart at the seams. Behind is is an antique wardrobe that my grandmother passed on to me! Lord, Thank you for your blessings today!
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I saw yesterday, or perhaps the day before, that you were going to start blogging. Woohoo! I have put you under my "suggested blogs" on the right side of my blog.
ReplyDeleteNice analogy with the plane / taxiing / flight. Look forward to reading more as the year progresses!
Ben
So glad to see you doing this, Babe. I love the lessons that God is teaching you! Nice Pic! Maybe some day soon I will be able to have my own site like this.
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