I GIVE THEE BACK THE LIFE I OWE

I owe the Lord a great deal. He died for me, but how could I ever repay such a debt. I couldn’t die for myself so what could I do?

The only thing I can do is to believe His Word and really that’s all He wants me to do. But if I truly believe His Word, then I have to count myself dead. But then what happens after that? To my mind that leaves me with nothing. That means that everything I might think of myself both good or bad is no more!

What will happen to me if I should believe God’s Word that says, “Ye are dead...” That scares my flesh and my flesh fights to maintain its status, its worth, its pride.

God doesn’t leave me void. Something happens! Christ comes to live in my place. The old standard of thinking that Satan built within my self-identity is destroyed by the brightness of His presence. “Old things pass away, all things become new, and all things now are of God.”--All things!

That’s a miracle! I couldn’t do this for myself. It’s beyond my capacity. So again I go back to what I can do--believe God’s Word. It’s true you know--God does­n’t lie. If He says I am dead and a brand new creature in Him, then I am what He says I am. Actually I am a part of Him because Colossians says that my life is hid with Christ in God and I am complete in Him.

Paul said this too in different words, “I am (that’s my flesh) crucified with Christ (put to death) nevertheless I live, yet it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me...”--

Gal. 2:20. He also said, “For me to live is Christ...”

Well, it sounds to me like I’ve got to do some changing in my way of thinking because there has already been a change of identity. God did that part for me by the new birth, but my part is the thinking part. If I am a new creature, I can't think like the old. But what does the new creature think like? To answer that I need to know the truth of God’s Word because Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” He also said, “Thy word is truth.”

The devil has so well taught my mind how to think that I have a real hard time breaking the habit.  But God promises me in His Word that if I present my body to Him, I will be transformed by the renewing of my mind. 

Well, that takes me back to where I started when I asked the question, “What can I do?”  I can believe His Word and give my body to the Lord--that’s what I can do.  After all, He gave His body for me.

Warren D. Rogers