Spiritual Suicide 2
For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; 2 Tim 2:11
Spiritual Suicide 2
Died With Him – So now you know that death comes before life, not after it. Now you know that this death must be voluntary and deliberate. What you also need to know is that this Greek verb here is in the aorist tense. This means that it a finished act in the past. This is not the “dying daily” act of submission that comes with a resurrected life of continual repentance and obedience. This is the one-time in the tomb before the glorious resurrection power of God saturates your life. This is what most Christians call “born again.” Of course, it is really “death first, then born again.”
Why is it important that the Greek verb is about a completed action in the past? Because Paul wants Timothy (and all the rest of us) to know that there is a point in my life when I enter into the tomb, when I count myself among the dead, before God lifts me up. That point settles the issue of my willingness to let go of what I think life should be. The moment I enter the grave, I put aside all the measurements of success and achievement that the world holds dear. At the same time, I die to my own internal call to have it my way. That old body, so subject to all the world’s pressures and temptations, has to stay in the grave and rot away. This deliberate act of identification with Jesus is the pivotal decision of my life, because without it I will simply proceed along the path of the walking dead until my true state becomes a reality.
God promises that if I die with Jesus, I will also rise with Jesus. This is a guaranteed conditional statement. If I die, then I rise. Pay close attention. The preposition “with” is critical. If I die with Him, then I will rise with Him. I don’t do this independently. It’s not Zen. Unless Jesus is with me in the grave, I won’t rise. Unless Jesus is with me when I rise, I won’t live.
I die once. No man enters the grave time and time again. The rest of my experience with God is really just working out of my death in the context of the world. The day-to-day struggle and victory is just the process of extending my one-time death to every part of my animated existence. Death is not the end. It is the beginning. Death starts a transforming process that goes on to eternity.
Most of us have it backwards. We think death in the end point of life. We need to turn our heads upside-down. Death is the beginning. In fact, this paradox is true for every spiritual struggle with sin. Death is the way out. Death is the answer, not life. The more I try to fight my way through to life, the less I am able to succeed. The answer is not to hang on to living. The answer is to die – to repeat in daily actions what I did on that most important day in the past when I entered into the grave with my Master. If I die, then I rise. It’s a good motto. Try it and see.
