Live free by His mercy and grace

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. – Romans 6:6-8

Jesus died on the cross for every second glimpse you took of that cute girl in your class, for every time you get high, for everytime you fantasize about his six-pack, for every time you get drunk, every time you lie, cheat, steal, for every single time you do anything that goes against God.  It was our sins that made Jesus take the cross.  We killed Jesus.  I know that’s a hard thing to really understand or to accept, at least it is for me.  Everyone knows that “Jesus died for them” and all that good sunday school stuff.  But do we actually understand that we killed Jesus?  Everytime we put ourselves ahead of God, we might as well be nailing him to the cross oursevles.

Even when we are doing “Christian” activities, we can still be offending God.  So you went to the Campus Crusade for Christ meeting this week?  Great.  But what did you go for?  Did you go because you wanted to worship the Lord, or did you go because you wanted to meet cute girls (or cute guys).  If you are, then your motives ain’t right and your heart ain’t either.  And that applies to all walks of life, not just campus crusades, but church, work, school, everything.  As 1 Cor. 10:31 says, everything we do should be done to the glory of God the father, and it means everything.  Eating, drinking, sleeping, watching TV, reading, going out with your boyfriend/girlfriend, anything at all.  If it isn’t being done to the glory of God, then we shouldn’t be doing it.  Believe me, I know it’s easier said then done.  When you’re sitting with the girl you like, more then likely you aren’t thinking “how can I use this time to glorify God?”  But God never promised us it would be easy.  We are sinful and sin hates god, for real.  But when we aren’t doing something to Gods glory it’s saying we are on the throne, it tells God to retire.  It says he ain’t enough and it says we want more, it says he ain’t just and it says he ain’t Lord.

So you might be reading this thinking, “okay, so far Phil has told me that I nailed Jesus to the cross and I’m sinning because I go to church to talk to the cute girl.  This doesn’t make me feel any better about myself.”  And well that’s right, but at the same time, while we killed Jesus, Jesus saved us.  “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15.  While all those things makes us sinners, Jesus died to free us from that sin which we were enslaved to.  Christ freed us from sin!  And not only are we free from sin, but we are also free from death.  As one of my favorite songs says “the same power that conqured that grave, lives in me.”  Just think about that, the same power that over came death, lives in each one of us right now.  How amazing is that?