Reigning With Christ Requires Submission To His Cross
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.
1 Peter 4:1
When one criminal testifies against another criminal, he is sometimes given a fresh start in exchange for his help—a new name, a new home, a new life. No one knows of the past, and he can either become a model citizen or revert to his old ways.
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The Christian has a new life given him by God. In God’s eyes, the old life of sin is done away with. The statute of limitations has run out.
F. B. Meyer suggests the following course of action for Christians in their “new life.”
WALK WITH F. B. MEYER
“The apostle Peter urges the disciples to make a clean break with sin.
“As our Lord’s grave lay between him and his earlier life, so should there be a clean break between our life as believers and our earthbound life which was dominated by lawless passions.
“Sometimes God employs the acid of persecution or suffering to eat away the bonds that bind us to our past. Let us accept these with a willing mind. The one condition of reigning with Christ is to submit to his cross.
“Of course, we must die to the allure of the world, and to the temptations of the evil one, but it is quite as important to die to our self-life.
“Let us cultivate the unchanging habit of looking up from our service, of whatever kind, to claim the ability to do it for the glory of God.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Leaving behind a life of crime, most respond with gratitude to the offer of a fresh start: offenses forgiven, new opportunities provided. The one requirement: Keep out of trouble! It’s a tough assignment—especially if you keep going back and trying to mix the old with the new.
Looking back won’t help you make progress in your Christian life either. Rather, look up to draw from the source of strength that God has given you to live the new life God has set before you.
