Alive to God

Romans 6:8-11

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:8-11

In this section Paul emphasise that we are raised with Christ: we will live with Him; Christ will never die again; the life He lives He now lives to God and we are alive to God. So what does it mean to be alive to God? God has always known us. He told Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” – Jeremiah 1:5

So God who is the source and creator of life has eternal life in Himself. We on the other hand are mortal. We are born knowing with certainty that we will die. Jesus came in human form, a perfect man who always did his Father’s will. He did not deserve to die. But He gave up His life for us, Jesus said:

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” – John 10:17-18

Jesus voluntarily gave His own life for us, to pay for our sins. But God raised Him from the dead and made Him alive to God. Now we are made alive into God through Christ. We who were dead in our sins are now alive to God. We have to wait for our bodies to be resurrected but spiritually we are alive to God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How does that effect how we live? Well we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. We need to have faith in the word of God that He has done all this for us. We are alive to God now and will be made alive when we pass from this life to live with God eternally. Therefore we should live with that in mind all the time. We are alive to God so let’s ensure our lives reflect that truth to all we meet.