Romans 6:6Knowing this, that ourold man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
What’s it mean when a person accepts Christ? When a person is reborn? Does it mean that we think differently; speak differently; act differently? Does it mean that there’s an automatic change in us to where we are no longer that person we were just seconds ago?
I think not.
What it means is that we’ve decided to follow Christ rather than ourselves. What it means is that we face our old selves on the battlefield in the full armor of God. It means that we do everything we can with the power of God to be a different person.
Romans 6:6 says that our old man is crucified with him. It means that we RUN from sin. Being saved doesn’t mean that its ok to sin because we know our sin is going to be wiped away. That’s not what the cross was meant for. It means we fight the sin. As I said, we face it on the battlefield. Yes, we’re forgiven and our sins our wiped away, but were also the same people who think the same things, act the same way, speak the same things we did five minutes prior to accepting Christ.
What we need to do is give up the ghost. We need to give up our old selves. Our growth in God does not end at the cross. A person can’t say “I’ve gone as far as possible in God.” That’s ignorant. What about the disciples? They accepted Christ and yet, went further. They baptized others. Healed, prayed, and cleaned up their lives! No, we won’t be perfect, but yes, we can definitely try. Each and every one of us needs to give up the ghost. Give up our old selves and run towards God. Look beyond the cross and see what God made us for. There’s so much more than the cross. The cross is just the first step. If we can give up the ghost of the old man we once were, we stand a chance of growing in God. If not, we don’t.
Every day I wake up and ask God to remove from me what causes me to fall. Everyday I ask Him to give me the strength to fight what once overcame me. I want growth. I want to be different.
This blog’s points are totally scattered and I’ve gone everywhere and probably stated and restated things more than once, but the main point is this: don’t think everything ends at the cross. Don’t think that we’ve gone as far as we can go once we reach the cross. Change doesn’t end there. We need to die to our old selves and take on the new.
