The apostle Paul
raises here a powerful argument for our consideration. He establishes in
previous chapters that we are buried with Jesus in baptism, and our sins
removed, we rise with Him into a new life by His Spirit. This fact accepted and
proclaimed, he then sets for us a ‘litmus test’ (a simple test that produces a
clear, objective answer) of that which should naturally follow the resurrected
life! IF we are in fact new creatures, resurrected individuals, born again
believers, THEN our desire, affinity and passion should now be DIFFERENT to what
it USED TO BE! Our minds and hearts cannot possibly still long for the dead
things of sin and degradation we were saved from! It should be inconceivable
that we should want anything to do with that which we claim to have left in the
grave! IF we are resurrected with Jesus, we should make our priority and propensity
the maintenance of spiritual life and sturdy spiritual health. No longer can
our proclivities be of the world and the things of the world. Our appetite,
inclination and taste should be for those superior things, the things ‘which are
above’, the things of God! How self-defeating and injurious to the cause of
Christ are those who claim to be ‘born-again’, but still live like they are
dead in trespasses and sins! They have changed neither manner nor habits;
neither company nor preferences; neither vision nor desire! Carnality is their banner and they know nothing of the holiness of God. They are just as empty
of spiritual life as they ever were, but wear on the dead toe of their
spiritual corpse, the tag of ‘born-again Christian’! They remain in the
mortuary of dead religiousness and have the zeal and passion of those confined
to the morgue! Where is the evidence of the resurrected life in Christ? Where
is the hunger and seeking after God first and ahead of all else? How can we
tell that we are genuinely new creatures? The test is simple! We should take it
regularly! What do we pursue? What is our primary desire? Is it for God or for
our flesh? Do we long more for the things of God or are we still totally taken
and attracted by the things of the world? Let true believers stand and show the
testimony of the resurrected life they have in Christ by their fear of God and
hatred for sin, their love for others, the spiritual nature of their choices, the quality of their service
to God, the Christ-like humility of their self-image and the intense passion to obey God's word and to fulfil God’s will and purpose for their lives!
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion
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