The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Death and Life"
Death and life continually occur at the cellular level of our physical bodies. Old "building blocks of life," as some call them, pass away, even as new ones arise. "Death passed upon all men" of Adam's race after "sin entered the world" through our forefather (Romans 5:12). Thus, in our healthiest physical moment, when all feels strong and well, the Apostle Paul's pronouncement of mortality nevertheless characterizes our earthly condition…
"The outward man perisheth" (II Corinthians 4:16).
Thankfully, for the born again believer in the Lord Jesus, Paul also provided assurance of a transcendent spiritual reality whereby we can know the power of God amid the challenges of our earthly morbidity: "the inward man is renewed day by day." The indwelling Holy Spirit provides the risen life of the Lord Jesus Christ deeply within our redeemed hearts. "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6). Moreover, the Apostle states that such spiritual vitality has effect on our natural souls and bodies:
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
Our earthly members and faculties await the vibrant life - the life of Christ Himself - that already indwells our spirits. "This mortal must put on immortality" (I Corinthians 15:53). Thus, we feel the "death" that must be overcome by our Lord's enlivening spiritual presence. As we trust and submit to Him, the Holy Spirit imparts our Savior's risen life to empower our thinking, believing, speaking, acting, and relating, bestowing what might be called "mini-resurrections." Indeed, every act of obedience by the believer requires this internal working of the Holy Spirit to infuse our "outward man" with the spiritual life of Christ that indwells our "inward man."
"We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Corinthians 1:9).
One day for the believer, death will be "swallowed up in victory" (I Corinthians 15:54). Presently, we must see the native perishing of our earthly vessel as the scene whereby the truth of Christ's resurrection can be manifested over and over again. "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Corinthians 12:9). Every time we trust and obey God, we avail ourselves of our Lord's risen life as the power whereby we overcome the challenges of our mortal frame. We may not think in such terms, and the grace of His newness of life will most often be quietly and unobtrusively administered. However, believers exist as members of a race - a race of resurrection - wherein the risen Christ lives, and whereby His victory over the tomb daily imparts the life that makes possible our faith and faithfulness.
"To live is Christ."
(Philippians 1:21)
"Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead."
(Colossians 2:12)
Weekly Memory Verse
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(I Thessalonians 5:23)
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