In the last few days, most of my meditation centered around the events of the Lord Jesus' last few weeks here on the earth - and as I was meditating on these themes, the words of the bible passage above was quickened in my heart. One of the key expressions of Christian faith is the LIFE that the Lord promises us. Our Lord was not to be shackled by death, and He rose from the dead on the third day. (Rom 8:11 promises that if the Holy spirit lives inside us, then the same spirit who raised up Jesus Christ shall also make us alive).
After Jesus' resurrection, the group of women came to the tomb where he was laid and they found the tomb empty. Are you glad that we serve a LIVING God ?! All other God-men and demi-Gods and so-called saints are dead and gone. But our savior is alive - and He lives forever more. He's not just alive ; He is here right inside us!!! Christ's resurrection is one of the most foundational aspects of Christian faith. This is what separates our faith from all others. Jesus said so many things related to this. John 14:6 I am the way, the truth and the life. John 11:25 I am the resurrection & life. John 1:4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men.
Consider again the verse: Why seek ye the Living among the dead?
Often, we find many people eagerly accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. They even get baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. But their ways rarely, if ever, change! One of the key reasons for this, is that they continue to stay among the dead, even after they are made alive! One of the key principles of this scripture is: If you have been made alive (if you were dead in your sins earlier, and are now made alive by the Lord), then don't stay among the dead!! I.e. All around us, in our day to day life, the world offers umpteen opportunities to sin and go back to the old life. The believer consciously (and often at a great personal cost!) has to separate himself from these opportunities.
OK. This is a bit difficult for us to understand. So let me illustrate. Let's assume there was this person who died. His body is now in the morgue (mortuary) and is among about 30 other corpses. Imagine ; Suddenly the Lord brings this man back to life and gives back to him the breath of life. He is now alive. He wakes up and realizes that he is in a mortuary. What sane man would continue to remain there? He'd be up and he'd rush out of that atmosphere of death as quick as his legs could carry him!
Now, where can we find a similarity in our lives ? We may be born again, but we may have consciously submitted ourselves to vain human traditions which keep us away from the Lord. We may be still in the friendships which take us back to the path of death. We may still be in dead assemblies or the religious traditionsor idolatry, which is a rebellion against the living God. We may consciously be living in sin and living our old life without tapping into the abundant supply of grace which powers us to walk righteous and blameless! The same Lord who cried out to Lazarus "Lazarus, come forth." is crying out to us! Come out!
2 Cor 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Rom 6:21 says: What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death. But the Lord continues in the next verse (Rom 6:22) that we are made free from sin and we are to become servants of God. The fruit that God expects from us is - Holiness and the end thereof is Everlasting Life.
Old Life in Sin (Rom 6:21)
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New Life In Christ (Rom 6:22)
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Constant Shame
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Constant Joy
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Servants of uncleanness & iniquity
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Freed from bondage of sin
Servants of God
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Bitter fruit of fleshly works
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Blessed fruit of Holiness
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End is Death
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End is Everlasting Life
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May the Lord lead us to this blessed path of victory!
God bless you!
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