-You died. Paul says it again. Yes, if you are in Christ, if you have trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, you are both alive and dead in a way that is out of this world. And part of how we tap into this is by how we think, by the things on which we set our mind. And so our higher heavenly thinking is made more doable due to this truth that we died. Imagine with me if you will that you died - what would happen to all the things you used to want and value and pursue and care about? All those things on which you set your mind and your heart? Death is the great release from the ties that bind us to this earth, from the things which keep us engaged in a lifestyle of indulging our flesh, those things of earth on which we set our minds to the exclusion of the things above. Death in this case is the way out, our ticket to freedom from the flesh. Dead men tell no tales, but neither do they desire or think about anything. Those things which hold me back or pull me down spiritually, those besetting sins and thoughts and cravings - I am dead to them. I need to remind myself of this daily, if not more often, as often as needed.
-It is a spiritual death, which is exactly what we need as we are talking about both a spiritual condition and a spiritual endeavor, but in fact it is a both/and, my death (in Christ) coupled with a resurrected life (in Christ). We have a totally new out-of-this-world life which happens to be hidden with Christ in God. What this means is that while we will get glimpses of it in this life, this is just the tip of the iceberg, the appetizer. The main course is yet to come...
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