Day 30

Charles Price

Is it possible to be dead even while we live?


‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.’ (JOHN 10:10)


Scripture talks about the fact that it is possible to be dead yet alive at the same time – to be alive in one dimension and dead in another. In 1 Timothy 5:6 Paul says, ‘The widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.’ The offer of the Gospel is an offer of ‘life.’ How can people already alive be offered ‘life’?


This is only possible if there is more than one kind of life. And of course there is. There is physical life and spiritual life. It’s possible to be physically alive whilst spiritually dead. The consequence of sin is not physical death, but spiritual death. Spiritual death is separation from God, whose presence in humanity is the source of spiritual life.


The Gospel of Jesus Christ is essentially about rectifying that condition of separation from God and making us spiritually alive. A Christian is not to be defined by subscribing to a creed but by experiencing spiritual Life – the indwelling life of God restored to human experience by the new birth. The removal of sin through the atonement of Christ is a necessary precursor to being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is how we come alive, and this is the consequence of the Gospel!

 

Are you enjoying the abundant life you have in Jesus Christ?