Submitted by David
Miller
When it comes to the atonement that Jesus has provided us on the cross, He didn’t give His life for us, so that we could go on and continue to live the same kind of unacceptable and detestable life that we once used to live. Our salvation is based upon God pulling us out of the destructive state we were once in which had brought spiritual death into our lives by giving us eternal life. The real issue had to do with our sinfulness that had put us into such a terrible situation where we had no desire at all to live in a way that pleases God.
It’s important to realize that Christ’s death on the cross
truly highlights the severity and seriousness of our sins committed against a
holy and righteous God. The good news is that the death of Jesus has made it
absolutely possible for us to come out of the ungodly state we’d been prior to
being saved and step into holiness. Christ came and laid down His life for us
in order to purchase us from an eternal debt that we could have never paid on
our own, so that we could live for Him alone. That simply means that we owe Him
everything.
The only thing that we can do is to offer ourselves to God
just as we’re commanded to so according to Romans
12:1-2: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Acting out of
gratitude in response to what Christ has done for us has to become the driving
factor that should compel us to live for the Lord in such a way that clearly
demonstrates that His excruciatingly painful death on the cross on behalf of us
was not in vain. If we the bible carefully and with an open heart, it’s very
easy for us to come to the realization that Christ, as our model, has given us
a clear example regarding how we’re to live for God through total
submission. His foremost objective was
to please and glorify God by obeying Him in everything.
Keep in mind, the word of God says that we have to glorify
God with our body; in other words, by how we live. Our main responsibility after being saved is
to bring glory to God in everything. Christ is no longer here on this earth in
the flesh; therefore, we’ve become His representative on this earth instead.
We’re responsible to make sure that our lives reflect the One whom we
represent.
It’s true that we’ll never be able to live just as Christ did
because He was sinless and we are sinners, but if we’re willing to let Him
control every aspect of our lives through the Holy Spirit, it will result in a
total surrender to His authority and lordship.
Living for Christ is not based upon our human ability.
Instead, it’s based wholly on what Christ has done for us on the cross, along
with what He is able to do through us by the power of the Holy Spirit if we’re
willing to allow Him to do that.
Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:2
