This is going to sound so totally random tonight…
One of the things I love about writing this is that it gives me a chance to reflect back on what happened through the day, what God showed me and did for me during the day. But this morning I heard this, and I thought immediately, “that’s what I’m writing about tonight!”
My pastor gave a really awesome message this morning (well, technically I suppose it was yesterday since I’m writing after midnight…again) about being dead to sin, not letting sin rule our lives as Believers. He took it from Romans 6. One of those services that becomes very real to you, like the Spirit is whispering right into your ear the whole time. And then, like that wasn’t enough, something absolutely profound happened at the end of the service.
The worship leader is praying to close everything out. I love hearing this guy pray because you can tell he’s seriously talking to God, I mean conversationally, not in some rehearsed speech or contrived language. He just talks to God when he prays, like he’s really just saying this to God and the microphone just happened to be there…the way it should be when we pray. But this morning as he starts to pray, he pauses for a second like he’s searching for the right words to say, and he prays, “Father, help us to live like we’re dead.”
I walked out of the building totally hung up on how profound that was.
I mean, think about it. The entire thrust of the morning was about truly living in God, in the freedom that Christ has given us, and therefore being dead to sin…accepting His life, and dying to the lusts of the flesh. What better way to sum it up: live like you’re dead. Because isn’t that what we’re supposed to be, is dead to the world? In the world, but not of it, and all that? Paul said we’re “crucified with Christ.” We’re dead to sin. We should live that way. We can, if we accept His victory over it.
“Father, help us to live like we’re dead.”
I guess we should all spend more time praying that this week, shouldn’t we?