Mistaken Identity

Hello people,

I was having a Romans class with pastor Edward this afternoon, on the topic of dying to sin and being baptised into Christ Jesus. Pastor Edward told Lloyd and I a story which really helps to explain this:

There was a rich man who while travelling the world, came across a poor village. While resting there, he noticed a poor young boy in the slumps, digging through the filthy rubbish to find something to eat. When he asked about the boy, he was told that the boy was an orphan, left to fend for himself. Pitying the young boy, the rich man decided to adopt him and brought the boy back home, to his mansion. He gave the boy a nice room and good clothes to wear. However, when it came to dinner time, the boy was nowhere to be found. Worried, the rich man sent his servants off to look for the boy. They eventually found the boy outside the mansion, digging through the rubbish, in search of food for dinner.

Just like the boy, many of us have been rescued by God from the chains of sin in order to live a new life, yet we foolishly continue in our sinful ways. In Romans 6, Paul said "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" The moment we received Jesus Christ, our old self was crucified with him in order that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Our bondage to sin is broken, we have been set free! Now, you no longer face the fear of being condemned by the law. Rather, you are given the freedom and power to be like Christ.

Let's not live a life of mistaken-identity. We have been saved so that we should be free from sin and more like Christ. The first step to doing that is simply understanding the significance of this truth. We are to CONSIDER OURSELVES DEAD TO SIN. Remember, we still face the pressures of sin, but we are master over the sin, not the other way around. We've been adopted into God's family just like the young boy was, and equipped (by the Holy Spirit) to live out his standards. Let's live up to this new identity we've been given.

Love,
Germs