The world would be better off if Christians would just die! Well, that is an abrupt statement. Ok, before you freak out, yes it would be better off. Oh, wait that didn’t
help. Ok, let me explain. The world would be better off if Christians would
die, but not as we understand death. The fact is, if we are truly the people of
God, through Christ Jesus, we will not die. However, we must die if we are to be
Christian. I would argue that one of our biggest problems is that we are just not
very good at dying.
So, what do
I mean by dying. Some of you have already figured out where I am heading,
maybe. Jesus once told his disciples that unless a seed dies, it cannot come to
life and produce a live plant, multiplying over and over (John 12:24, my
paraphrase). The whole concept of dying is not, or should not, be foreign to
believers. (When I say believer, I mean those who are actually disciples,
followers, of the person Jesus of Nazareth).
The world
suffers from those who call themselves believers but have not died. This is a
real problem. Some of us have understood that to be born again we have to
repent and believe in Jesus, but we have not died. When do we die? We die with
Christ Jesus and are made alive in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This
death is not just a metaphor. When we believe in Jesus we are as good as dead
to our former life, and we are really alive in Christ Jesus (Colossians 2:13).
When we are made alive in Jesus, our old humanity has been crucified (Galatians
2:20). We now live in the new humanity of Jesus. He is the first born of the
dead (Colossians 1:18), and we are born into his life.
What this
means is that we are now given this wonderful gift of life and liberty. Not the
kind of liberty that comes on July 4th in the USA. It is a liberty
from our selves. It is a freedom to love God and to love others. It is a
liberty from loving myself so much that I am at odds with God and other people.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we are living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). That is
a pretty interesting thought.
We are to
be living dead people. No, not Zombies. We are truly alive, but we are dead to
ourselves. God has given us this precious gift of his grace, mercy, and love.
He has given us his Son and the gift of his Holy Spirit. God both saves and
sanctifies (sets us apart for holiness). We cannot be holy through our own
works, so daily we live, sacrificed for his purposes. We become devoted to his
good will.
You see he
(God) is ever strengthening our trust. He gives us the ability to respond to
his offer, and we begin to see that he has our best interest in mind. As we
trust him, he also shows us how he is working in other people’s lives, and
invites us to witness what he is doing by inviting us to act on their behalf as
his ambassadors. All of this is initiated and carried out by God and his
gracious activity in our lives.
When
“Christians” are alive but not dead they often become like zombies. They have the appearance of life, but they deny its power. They will either be useless to
humanity, or they will destroy it with selfish ambition, attitudes, judgements,
and false witness of God. This leads me to think one thing, the world would be
better off if, as a Christian, I would die. Not if I were dead, but if I would
die.
Oh, Lord make me a living sacrifice
as I trust you. Help me to respond to your grace and may your will be done on
Earth as it is in heaven. Create in me a new heart that is free to love you and
others and to deny myself daily. – Amen.
