When Christ calls a man He bids him come and die,
To be like Christ in death, burial, and resurrection in the mystery of baptism.
Come and die, and therefore…
No longer I, but Christ!!
I picture a powerful Paul, a weak Paul, a joyous Paul, and a sorrowful Paul all proclaiming the same chorus,
No longer I, but Christ!!
May Christians shutter at the power of this gospel liberating truth!
To move from death to life,
To enter into freedom of a new life,
Death where is your sting?!
Are not principalities and powers but a footstool for my Lord?
Chains of bondage were broken 2,000 years ago,
But freedom seems new today.
…(pause and reflect)…
But when I wake will not temptation come again?
Will not the flesh howl for appeasement?
And will they not all pursue more angrily than before?
Surely they will!
They seek to exhaust me and crush my spirit,
My resolve cannot withstand the persistent bombardment of the Sirens sweetly singing the pleasures of this world,
The prostitute stands at the street corner and tries to lure me into her web of death,
I know the first seven chapters of Proverbs all too well,
By myself I am as good as dead!
Sin smiles and then unhinges it’s jaw to swallow me whole.
But now, Faithful One, bring Your sin defeating, death conquering gospel message to my mind once again,
God doesn’t expect me to fight,
In fact, God doesn’t even want me to fight,
Get on bloody knees and cry out to God,
For He is the Warrior, He is the Victor,
Not I, but Christ!!
So trials await, and is not my Savior poised to conquer?
In myself I find nothing but death,
No good thing lives in me,
But in Christ I find life!
Father, strengthen Your children today by Your Word.
