“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Some of us have seen it in real life, a loved one on life support. Such person seems to be alive by the fact that his vitals seem to line up with a living being. The only problem is that it is a machine that’s helping with those vitals being what they seem to be.
Our struggle as Christians mainly has to do with trying to support who we used to be. It has to do with trying to support the personality that we inherited when we didn’t know Christ, when we didn’t know who God is. Apparently, some people only know us by such personality. We try to impress them by the same person we used to be, the same old behaviors and reasonings we used to value. We seek to gratify the cravings of our flesh by reasoning the same way that we used to when we lacked the knowledge of the love of God for us. We try to fall back into being satisfied with what we desire and think rather than what God desires and knows of us. By behavior, it seems like we’re alive in the world again. By our actions and reasonings, we seem to have become ungrateful, ignorant and dismissive of the love of God altogether.
Life support. It seems like a great option for a loved one. But it can be a scary thing for us when it’s used for someone we all hope or wish would not have been born.
When we look at the person we used to be, Adam our ancestor, we can see all the things and all the traits we hate about such person. We hate the fact we were weak. We hate the fact that we had failed many times. We hate the fact that we didn’t and couldn’t know every thing. And that’s the person we’re hoping to see alive again whenever we go on defense or seeking retribution from others.
Only a dead Adam would turn the other cheek. Only a dead Adam wouldn’t care if his cloak or all his garments are taken away from him. Only a dead Adam wouldn’t resist to walking into a lion’s den. Only a dead Adam wouldn’t resist to walking into a lit furnace.
As Christ told John in Revelations,
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.” (Revelations 12:10-11)
“They did not love their lives so as to shy away from death”, such is the testimony, the observation from heaven of the believers in Christ. And it doesn’t say that they have conquered all their difficulties by technology, science or religion, but by “the blood of the Lamb of God.”
Death to sin, death to the flesh, being insensible to the ways of the world, being insensible to the cravings, the desires, the foolishness of the world, such is the honored death before God.
To reiterate, Paul reminded the believers at Rome,
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:9-17)
“The body is dead because sin”, means the body still longs for retribution. It still longs for vengeance. It still craves for perishable things. But our renewed spirit finds rest, full satisfaction in Christ. We carry the body like a dirty garment. There’s a time appointed for such garment to be renewed, to no longer crave for the things of the world, to no longer be seeking rest where none can be found. Such time is when Christ will renew our body to no longer be subjected to earthly influences but the Spirit of God.
And concerning the renewed body,
“But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:35-50)
We must be born again because we cannot enter heaven with flesh and blood. We were once born as Adam, bearing his image in every aspect. Now we are born as Christ, the new creation. Though, our outside bears the image of Adam, our spirit bears the image of Christ.
God made us alive with Christ. He gave us a renewed spirit to long for and be satisfied only with the things from above.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your a life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:1-17)
So, we’re best at putting to death what is already dead and not seek to support it with the beliefs that we can bring it to life again, that we can bring it to slavery to the teachings and ways of this world again. Turn of the life support of our earthly beliefs and embrace the life we now have in Christ by faith through his Spirit who now resides alongside of our renewed human spirit even in this earthly body which is to be renewed when Christ appears again for all eyes to see.
Get off the life support and live in Christ and Christ alone.
All earthly scams usually have fraudulent claims showing the numbers and false promises even when the substance is nowhere to be found.
Life support is not life. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, the Christ of God, alone is the true life.
Be not found on the life support of earth, its beliefs, hopes and dreams. Instead, be found living in Christ Jesus and His Father and God alone.
To all the questions a man could ever come up with, John reported that..
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus is the life, not the life support. So drop the life support and get eternal life instead. Drop your fights at preserving what cannot be preserved. Live eternally instead in Christ Jesus.
In Christ alone.
Jesus is the well of the living water, the Holy Spirit. 