The resurrection is also …
A Power Over Present Distractions.
Sin is a distraction. Have you noticed? The worst thing sin does is that it distracts us from the will of God, the face of God and the presence of God. It robs us of our true identity. It breaks our focus on Jesus in life.
When we go down in the waters of baptism, we identify with Jesus in his death—in his death for our sins. We die to our sins. This one-time physical experience of baptism is intended to be an everyday mindset in the life of the Christian: “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Rom. 6:4). “For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (Rom. 6:7).
The resurrection is also …
A Plan for Spirit-led Actions.
When we rise up out of the waters of baptism, we identify with Jesus’ rising above the power of sin and death and living life in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is an experience and a perspective for life: “We have been released from the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit” (Rom. 7:6).
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead can get you up and out of bed in the morning, can fill your soul with a sense of purpose, can fuel you with energy to serve God in life. But in order to walk in that risen life it requires that we, first of all, receive that life by asking God for it. And, secondly, it involves a reckoning. We must reckon, or consider, ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God.
Beyond the Grave
Succeeding at giving her marriage another shot was something that few people in Maggie McKinney’s life had any hope for. Deep into the personal Gethsemane of her separation, she found herself caught amidst a mixture of conflicting thoughts and emotions. The day her husband came back into her life, she was contemplating the “freedom” she was about to experience, the trips she would take and the projects she could undertake. The divorce papers were expected to arrive any day and she was becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of being single again.
