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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Are YOU Risen?

On Easter morning believers worldwide greet eachother with the familiar mantra "He is risen!" But I wonder what would happen if we replaced the expected response "He is risen indeed!" with the question "Yes, but are YOU risen?"

For many years after committing my life to Christ, I clung to old sin-habits with a tight-fisted grip. On occasion I'd let Jesus pry a finger or two open and expose the sin inside, but as soon as control threatened to elude me, I clamped my fist shut once again. Cloaked in the false comfort being in control brought me, I refused to live the resurrected life in Christ. Brokenness bound me until I realized I had to die in order to truly live.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

Jesus died to replace our old with His new. As believers we often settle for the mediocre instead of the miraculous. We pray the prayer, walk the aisle, and then try to be "good Christians." We cringe when we're challenged to die to our flesh. We'd rather be comfortable in our status quo Christianity than conquerors in Christ Jesus!
 
It's time to tap into the resurrection power that indwells every believer. Jesus is no longer dead and neither are we. So let's live "free from sin, [our] old master ... and slaves to [our] new master, righteousness." (Romans 6:18)  Let's shed our grave clothes once and for all and robe ourselves in the righteousness of Christ. Only then will we lavishly live the resurrected life Jesus died to give.

4 comments:

Danielle said...

Amen, girl! We talked about this very issue tonight in our women's group. Clothing ourselves with the righteousness of Christ--with His garment. Whooo! Praise the Father that He has given us the freedom to do so!

Mary DeMuth said...

Just a quick note to thank you for your kind words on The Writers View today!

Christine said...

Stephanie!! I can relate because this is soooo me, right now! Struggling with clinging to old sin habits leaves me questioning my salvation, which is a dark and dangerous place to be. How do I give up control and live the resurrected life I have in Christ!? Thanks so much for sharing this, it's encouraging to know others (and true Godly women at that) have been there! :) :)

Anonymous said...

Amen, sister. This has been the cry of my heart for some time now, that I would KNOW and live in the power that raised Christ from the dead, the power at work in me. I'm working on a post of what our "go-to" clothes are, the things we slip into without even thinking about it. Lots of thinking time,not lots of typing time this week. Thanks for typing my thoughts!

Debbie Giese

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