As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Ephesians 2:1-2, NIV
What is it to be alive among the dead spiritually speaking? It is to have a sense of purpose in God and to be willing to pay the price demanded by righteousness.
Simply put, if you have chosen Christ and have made him Lord of your life, gotten baptized and received the Holy Spirit – you are alive with him!
However it does not stop there, it is just the beginning of the journey of being alive in Christ and dead to the world.
The challenge many Christians face daily is that though they are positionally alive in Christ they may find that their daily experience may not look different from those who are still spiritually dead in the world and living in unrighteousness.
Why is this so? It is because many Christians do not know who they are spiritually and positionally and therefore cannot communicate nor exert this identity in the course of their daily conduct.
To live a life that is truly alive in Christ and dead to the world and sin we must recognize at all times who we are, conduct ourselves in line with what we know about our spiritual identity and also communicate this identity to the world around us.
One of the most fundamental spiritual status of a Christian is found in Galatians 2:20:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”.
Galatians 2:20, NIV
A Christian who is not daily in touch with this spiritual reality cannot discover the knowledge of his new identity neither can he live in that reality nor exert his spiritual knowledge to influence the world around him.
Such a Christian will continually struggle in his encounter with sin and the world. The truth is that we must daily confront our fallen and selfish human nature by exerting and communicating our new life in Christ or else we will continue to live as fallen self centered men who are dead to the nature of Christ.
Apostle Paul knew there was a daily struggle against his fallen nature but asserted his “new man” in Christ saying “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Dying daily means saying No! to the corrosive and pervasive culture of the world around us.
To live a victorious life over the world we must daily know who we are in Christ and communicate it to positively influence our actions and by extension the world around us.
