8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In Kingdom Living we begin to understand that faith is not for death but it is for this life - where death and sin no longer have the final word. See, Jesus is alive now; the grave could not hold him down. So he lives to God, for God, for the glory of the Trinity and we get to live that life right now with him. We are as alive as Christ, provided we give him the mastery of our lives. That's what apprentices do. They find someone who is real good at a particular trade and they attach themselves to that person.
In our case that 'someone' is Jesus and day by day we show up to work with him, to walk with him, to 'learn the rhythms of grace', to use a phrase from Jesus in The Message Paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30.
There are lots of dead people walking and I don't want to be one of them. I want life and Jesus, being the author of life (see John 1), is the best instructor there is. I do not have just faith in him. I also have confidence and trust that he knows best. And like any apprentice, I know the work is not always easy. But as Jesus once said, With God all things are possible.
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