Live for Christ? Then Die with Him First

By A. W. Tozer

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with him. Romans 6:8

    Do you realize that many, many persons now take it
for granted that it is possible to live for Christ without
first having died with Christ?

    This is a serious error and we dare not leave it
unchallenged!

    The victorious Christian has known two lives.  The
first was his life in Adam which was motivated by the
carnal mind and can never please God in any way. It can
never be converted; it can only die  Rom. 8:5-8.
 
    The second life of the Christian is his new life in
Christ  Rom. 6:1-14.  To live a Christian life with the life
of Adam is wholly impossible.  Yet multitudes take for
granted that it can be done and go on year after year in
defeat.  Worst of all, they accept this half-dead condition
as normal!

    Another aspect of this attitude is the effort of many to
do spiritual work without spiritual power.  David
Brainerd once compared a man without the power of the
Spirit of God trying to do spiritual work to a workman
without fingers attempting to do manual labor.  The
figure is striking, but it does not overstate the facts.

    The Holy Spirit is not a luxury meant to make deluxe
Christians, as an illuminated frontispiece and a leather
binding makes a deluxe book.  The Spirit is an imperative
necessity. Only the Eternal Spirit can do eternal deeds!
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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.