A Life Of GlorySample

Know, Consider, Present Up to this point we have understood that we were created by God to show off His character by manifesting His holiness. Unfortunately, sin keeps us from being able to do this and our resulting failure, no matter how small, deserves God’s judgment. Through Jesus Christ, God has provided grace as the exclusive means by which we can satisfy His requirements so that the only way we our lives can please God is if they are lived in His grace. Therefore, because we are graced by God we are called to live in an attitude of triumph. So, the question that arises is, “Why don’t we? In fact, when we look around we see more often than not, defeated Christians not triumphant ones. The answer again is sin, and the next three devotions will deal with this issue. Let’s start with Paul’s wonderful reminder of who we are in Christ from his letter to the Romans. Here he states that we are living in grace, dead to sin, baptized into Christ, buried in Christ, raised in righteousness in Christ, united in His death and resurrection, no longer a slave to sin, free from sin, we live with Christ, and we are triumphant over sin and death in Christ. Whew! What an incredible list of blessings from God through Jesus. Paul reminds us that we are to KNOW who we are in Christ Paul then moves on to tell us that, because of who we are in Christ, we are to consider ourselves dead to the ruling power of sin in our lives and alive to the rule of God in our lives through Christ. In very simple terms, sin has no authority over us, so we are dead to sin (it has no power) and alive to God in Christ. Finally, Paul tells us the because of who we are in Christ and how we are to think (believe) of ourselves in Christ that we are then to present ourselves to God as His instrument of righteousness. Literally we are to stop giving ourselves to sin and give ourselves to God who desires our absolute best. So, when sin presents itself do the following: know who you are in Christ; consider yourself dead to that sin but alive to God in Christ; and present yourself to God as the righteous person you already are in Christ. KNOW, CONSIDER, PRESENT. Paul says we cannot live the way we used to live because we are not who we used to be. Amen. Two Questions: How do I deal with sin in my life? Can I KNOW, CONSIDER, and PRESENT to overcome that sin?