Warren and Ruth Myers worked with The Navigators in Asia for nearly fifty years, teaching men and women how to experience God and the Scriptures. The following is from their book 31 Days of Praise:
"In Colossians 3:4 we read, 'Christ . . . is our life.' I find this one of the most significant truths in the whole New Testament. The Lord began to open up its meaning to me years ago through a man of God who made the statement, 'It's not only true that my life is Christ's, but my life is Christ.' What an amazing truth! Christ is my life! And yours! Think of who Christ is and what He is like! Then think of what it means to have Him as your indwelling life--what it means in being obedient and loving, in being adequate, in being joyful. Again and again I find release and strength as I simply say, 'Thank You, Father, that Christ is my life.'
"I find that praise is a tremendous aid in experiencing this truth. Praise stimulates my faith, helping me believe that something tremendous has taken place deep inside me--that God has infused me with the person and life of His Son. As I praise the Lord for who His Son is--pure and holy, loving and powerful--I can go on to praise Him that this is what He is in me.
"God has used Romans 6 to greatly expand my experience of this life-changing truth, and year after year the Holy Spirit deepens my understanding of what Paul is saying. I'm still learning more, but I'd like to share with you how this chapter has helped me.
"So you find Romans 6 somewhat confusing? If so, you're not alone! So have I! And Warren tells me that he prayed off and on for nine years about what it meant before the Lord gave him his first delightful breakthrough in understanding this chapter. So I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will use the following paragraphs to give you glimpses into what Paul is saying--or for some of you, to deepen your already rich experience of its truths. It may not be the easiest reading. So before you begin, why not pray that the Holy Spirit will teach you?
"Before we start, be aware that this chapter does not teach us that being 'dead to sin' means that sin no longer affects us, that it no longer appeals to us. It does not tell us to envision ourselves as corpses that, when kicked or stomped upon, won't feel a thing, won't get mad, won't hit back. The chapter tells us that we're dead to sin, but in the next breath--in the same sentence--it tells us we're alive with the resurrected life of Christ.
"We see this in verse 11: 'Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.'
"Let's take a look at the context of this verse. Paul has been talking about the kind of persons we are, not through our natural birth but through our spiritual birth. When we were born of the Holy Spirit, we became one with Christ; we were united to Him.
"What does this mean to us? It means that we became partakers of Christ's death and all its benefits; we were acquitted from all our guilt, for we 'died to sin.' We no longer live under the reign of sin.
"But the miracle didn't stop there. Because Christ was raised to new life, we were raised with Him as new persons who had new life. God delivered us out of Satan's kingdom of sin and spiritual death, and He lifted us into Christ's kingdom--into the realm called 'newness of life.' Here in this kingdom we are alive with the very life of our risen Lord. And because we are alive with His life, we're righteous with His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"So we have ended our relationship with sin and guilt and death and have entered into an intimate, eternal relationship with God. We can relate to Him in a totally new way. We are dead to sin and alive to God.
"But what does it mean to be dead to sin? Death never means being annihilated. It means being separated. So in our innermost being we have been separated from sin; sin is no longer our nature and we no longer need to let it be our master . . . We are to see ourselves in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. These stand within us as a powerful barrier between . . . sinfulness and the new person we truly are in our innermost being. We're to let them serve as a powerful blockade, separating our new selves from what remains of . . . old sinful tendencies. The cross and the empty tomb form an immovable boundary between who we were and who we have become, between our former realm of sin and guilt and death and our new realm of righteousness and life.
"So we are dead to sin and alive to God. This is not fantasy. It is fact. It's the way things are in our genuine nature--in our innermost person, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, with Christ as our life.
"It's not that sin no longer entices us. Sin fights against the Holy Spirit within us for control of our bodies and our personalities. And sin is cagey. It masquerades as our master who deserves our loyalty. It poses as an essential part of us, pretending to be our true nature, concerned about what is best for us. Then if we yield to its demands or swallow its bait, it either dulls our consciences or plagues us with guilt, whipping us even after we confess to the Lord.
". . . Picture in your mind what will happen when you die physically. Your spirit, your personality, the new and true you, will immediately go to be with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8) . . . And when Christ returns He will give you your new, imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual body, totally free of even the slightest remnant of sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
"Think of the freedom from sin's guilt and power you will then experience! Imagine the total way you will be dead to sin and alive to God! Then let the truth dawn on you: in your innermost being, as a 'new creation' through Christ's life in you, this has already happened to you spiritually! This is not make-believe. God says it is true, so it is true.
"God wants us to believe Him. He asks us to consider ourselves to be what we are: dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. He wants us to count on the fact that we have a new nature, a new identity. We're no longer to identify with our old identity, with our former nature, with who we once were, as though no radical change has taken place deep within us. As Christ is one with the Father in life and power, so we are one with Christ in life and power. Sin is no longer our nature; it is no longer our master. We are new persons, dead to sin and alive to God.
"Think of it this way. It's as though in your innermost being you were previously a caterpillar; you entered the cocoon of Christ's death and through His resurrection emerged as a butterfly.
". . . Thanking and praising God for these facts will help you see yourself as God sees you. This is vital, for we live as who we see ourselves to be. These truths don't just make you feel better about yourself. Rather, they lay the groundwork for a life of fuller obedience.
"You can simply say, 'Thank you, Lord, that I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ is living in me. And the life which I now (this moment) live in my body, I live by faith in Your Son, who loved me, and sacrificed Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). I yield my entire body to You, as an instrument of righteousness, to do Your will. I praise You that Christ in me is infinitely greater than all the power of sin . . . Thank You that He has set me free from the condemnation of sin, and that His resurrected life is more powerful than the downward pull of sin!'
"Praise the Lord often for the massive difference He has made in you through your new birth and the new, eternal, spiritual life that is yours in Christ. Such praise can help you view yourself as a new person, and therefore live the new life God has in mind for you.
"The Holy Spirit wants to saturate our minds with the truths He has revealed in the Bible, including these truths in Romans 6. As we meditate on them and respond with praise for them, He delivers us from begging God for what He has already given us. He wants us to pray; prayer is basic to His working. But He wants us to pray with understanding and with praise.
"How do we often pray? We plead for victory when Christ is in us as our more-than-conquering life. We beg for the Holy Spirit as though He were not already indwelling us, as though He were not yearning for our consent to fill and control us and produce His fruit in our lives. We pray for spiritual and emotional resources as though they were external bonuses. We forget that they are part or our birthright in Christ, for in Him God has blessed us with every possible spiritual blessing, with everything we need for life and godliness (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3). We cry to the Lord to give us things that we already have because He is in us. He says, 'I am the bread of life, the water of life, the light of life; I am the way, I am the truth, I am the resurrection and the life--I am what you need' (John 6:35; John 7:37; John 8:12; John 14:6; John 11:25). He wants us to reply, 'Thank you, Lord, You are! You are my sufficiency this moment, this hour, this day. I'm counting on Your life in me--Your love and patience. Your gentleness and guidance and power--to meet my needs and overflow to others.'
"When we praise with thanksgiving, we deepen our experience of Christ in us and as our Source. He constantly fills us and replenishes our resources as we give ourselves in loving service to other people.
"C. S. Lewis wrote that a car is made to run on gas, and it won't run properly on anything else. Likewise, God made us to run on Himself. He is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn and the food our spirits were designed to feed on. So it's no use trying to find inner release and power and fulfillment apart from God. There is no such thing. And God has given us His life and power through our inner union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
"As we turn our attention to Christ, focusing on Him and His sufficiency, how can we help but praise Him and He is our life?"
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