Count Yourself

COUNT YOURSELF

"Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11

One of the messages that I heard the late Pastor Bill Raws share with the men of the Colony of Mercy was from this very text. As a part of the message he would graphically describe to the men that a casket is sitting in the front of the chapel and inside it is a dead body. All the life has been drained from it, and it is dead.

He likened us to that dead body according to Romans 6:11. Count on it -- we are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The coffin has been nailed shut.

However, the problem is that we don't want to be dead. Even after the funeral we try to pull ourselves out of the coffin and live the old defeated life.

Listen to what Bible teacher, Chris Tiegreen, from Walk Thru the Bible, has to say about this exchanged life:

Many Christians miss out on experiencing the victorious, joy-filled life, not because they aren't in face 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 and power and victory of the Christian life when he or she believes its foundation: We were crucified with Jesus, and now we are raised in the 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.

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 OF THE FACT THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!

Our struggles are often 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'll live. Romans 6:11 tells us what to see. COUNT ON IT, and watch your experience line up with truth. (from ONE YEAR DEVOTIONAL -- WALK WITH GOD -- Tyndale)

This, my brothers, is the VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIFE! You are in the coffin! Dead to sin! The casket lid is closed. Locked. Buried. Now count on it -- YOU ARE NOW ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 19; Leviticus 25; Mark 1:23-45

Dig This Quote: Our God is not the “great I WAS” or the “GREAT I USED TO BE,” but He is still the “GREAT I AM!” – Testimony from a Dad whose son was in a terrible accident (The Rewards of Simplicity …)

Determined Digging: (Level 1) Psalm 27:4; (Level 2) Psalm 34:1-10

Check out this week's STEWARDSHIP INSIGHT FROM GEORGE http://keswickgeorge.blogspot.com/