From Death to Life – Life from Death
This has been a busy weekend. I have done well in my recovery avoiding falls. (for the most part) So last night at the Teen Challenge banquet I feel like I can make a few remarks to attendees and while I am talking holding a mic and learning on my walker, I can tell I am beginning to get weak. As I started to reposition my walker, I am trying to explain to the people that I need to make an adjustment so I don’t fall. I wasn’t quite successful. So this fall was witnessed by about 200 people. It will be hard to deny that one to my physical therapist this next week!
After spending the night with Christian and Bridget and taking an unplanned two hour nap, I headed to meet Debbie at her company picnic in Lafayette. It was good to see so many of her co-workers who have shown their support and interest in my recovery. Especially her boss and company owners, Rod and Sonja.
I then returned to Fort Collins and got ready to go to a Children’s Evangelism Fellowship banquet at Life Bridge Church. John Weston and the men of the “Higher Ground Men’s Chorus” were singing. I enjoyed some of the old songs. There was actually one I didn’t know. The picture is me with some of the choir members that I have known for some years, that I met through a variety of contacts.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses…God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…” Colossians 2:12,13
When I look at these verses I think of my friend Andy Peterson who was attacked by a mountain lion on Carpenter’s Peak in south Jefferson County. His testimony book is entitled, “Twice Saved.” It is a play on words that relate to his being “saved” from the mouth of a mountain lion and being “saved” from his life of sin through relationship with Christ.
Life through death is the biblical story of redemption. In the Old Testament the life sacrificed was a spotless lamb or goat that was offered in the stead of human life for the forgiveness of sin. In the New Testament the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was to provide forgiveness for our sins, so that we don’t have to die and face eternal separation from God.
However, we see this death and resurrection scenario pictured in the life of Jesus has an application to those who are followers of Christ.
New life begins with death. Spiritually we identify with the death and resurrection of Christ through baptism. This symbolizes death to sin and an old life and a “resurrection” to a new life in Christ. Many have failed to understand this significance and think that being a follower of Christ is just a belief system or a philosophical approach to life. It is more. It is a life change, it is a new identity. Paul said in Romans 6:11 “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Paul also says that those who come to Christ are “…new creations, the old is gone and the new is come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) In order to experience the “new” in its fullness one must be willing to let go of the “old.”
New life springs forth from the dead. Paul simply asserts that the spiritual condition of an individual is death. You may be the “life of the party.” You may feel you have the “world by the tail.” God looks at your condition as terminal and good as a “dead man walking.” The good news is that when Christ came to life, God provided life for those who are spiritually dead.
Remember God has made us to know and experience life. In Colorado we enjoy the change of seasons. But everyone anticipates the spring growth and the summer glory of flowers and tress after the deadness of winter. What we see and identify with in nature, is reflective of what God’s plan is for our souls. John puts it in the simplest of terms, “He who has the Son has life.” (1 John 5:12)
What is the season of your soul? Why not embrace life?