Dead Reckoning

"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Romans 6:10&11

Chapters six, seven, and eight of the book of Romans are some of the most powerful words ever written to Christians. Chapter six tells us that we need to count or reckon ourselves dead to sin. In the same verse, we are encouraged to understand that we may be dead in sin, but we are alive in Christ Jesus. Chapter seven lets us know that this process is sometimes difficult. We may count ourselves dead to sin, but we still live in a sinful world that is reaping the destruction brought through man's sin. We also live in a body of flesh with a sometimes carnal soul, that is easily drawn back into sin. Even Paul, in his honesty, admitted that he struggled with the idea of being found in Christ yet living in a sinful body. Chapter eight brings all of this completely into focus by telling us that we need to live life by the Holy Spirit. If we do that, we have a future glory that is unparalleled, and we find ourselves living as "more than conquerors" through Christ.
    This is a wonderful transition. The problem is, we must learn to reckon ourselves dead to sin in order to begin to live in the life of a conqueror. We are told that this reckoning is exactly like our baptism in water. We go into those waters as sinful people, the old man is buried there in the waters, and we are raised to new life in Christ. So now, we must learn to do that in our minds everyday. This is the kind of reckoning that must be consciously made each and every day of our lives. We tend to forget that we left that old man in the depths of the baptismal waters. We sometimes forget that Christ died, was buried and rose again for the very same reason, that all of our sins would be left in the grave.
    When we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, we are saying that we KNOW we are dead. Sin holds no more draw for us. In effect, we are saying, "We are done with sin." If we can do this and really understand the gravity of those decisions, we will find that living as an overcoming conqueror is no longer a pipe dream, it is a reality that is available each day.
    Today, reckon yourself to be dead to sin. Live in the power of the Holy Spirit who assures that you are  alive to God in Christ Jesus. We have things a little backwards. We think that we live and then we die. But in the kingdom of God the opposite is true. In order to fully live, we must die first. How then, can we possibly live in sin any longer?