Sin & Death: Dying to be Free

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4)

Have you ever thought about faking your own death? It’s become a standard plot device in movie and TV shows. When a character has messed up his life beyond repair — or when someone wants him dead — he fakes dying so he can either escape to a new and better life or go undercover and fix a problem in his old one.

sandd_350In today’s passage, Paul reminds Christians we’ve already pulled off the “die to get free” trick. Except we didn’t fake it; we really did die spiritually. Like everyone else, we’d trashed our old lives with our sinful choices. The clock was ticking down to the moment Eternal Death would do us in for good. Jesus gave us another way out — through another kind of death.

By placing all of our trust in Him, Paul says we became so close to Him that we were marked with His death in our place on the cross; we were buried with Him (the picture of baptism); and we were spiritually resurrected to live a brand new life. Now Forever Death can’t get us; sin has lost its power over us; and we’ve started over far away with every debt wiped out.

Think: Have you ever thought about becoming a Christian as “dying to get free”? What changes do you think someone would have to make if he faked his own death and started over brand new? What changes make sense for a Christian after “dying with Christ” and beginning a new life with Him?

Pray: Ask God to keep reminding you that you’re living a new life, not an old one where you have to do what sin says.

Do: Jot down a few reasons a character in a TV show, book, or movie would fake his own death.