Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. (Rom. 6:8)
Jesus Christ accomplished a complete and final redemption through His death and resurrection. There are no victories left to win. There is no forgiving left to do. There is no greater defeat to be brought to Satan. But there is one thing left to do: Believe. We must believe – which means to fully embrace and surrender to Jesus Christ.
The primary way in which I believe that, “It is finished,” is by losing my life for Jesus’ sake – by picking up the Cross daily. If I do, then, and only then, will I find true life in Him. (Matt. 16:24) But this will not make what is finished by Christ to be more finished. It will not make what is true to be truer. No. Rather, it is a matter of me believing what is already true — that the old is dead in Him — and a matter of me abiding in the One in Who is the resurrection and the life.
Death to the old must always precede resurrection unto the new. I must relinquish my life – which is to relinquish my right to myself – to Jesus Christ crucified. What will happen is that I will, “live with Him,” that is, Jesus won’t give me my life, He will give me His.
God does not give us A life, or give us a, “thing,” called life. Rather, He gives us Christ, Who IS the life. Therefore, our surrender to the Cross is not a negative thing — it leads to a positive eternal realization of Christ Himself.
David DePra