Christians are defined by what Christ has done

Posted : 23 Apr, 2012 02:25 AM

Since you died with Christ to ... this world, why ... do you submit to its rules...? (Col. 2:20).



Devotional:



Christians keep certain rules. But keeping rules does not make a person a Christian. I remember when people were called Christians because they went to church and observed Sundays carefully. Yet it is not going to church but being in Christ that defines a Christian.



Being in Christ means that what happened to Jesus Christ has happened to us. And all that he has we either already have or will have someday.



Thus we share in Jesus' death. We confess that he died for us, in our place, but also that we died with him. He represented us all. We are all joined with him by baptism. His death was our death, and his life is the source of ours.



We died to the world. That means that whatever is outside of Christ can neither frighten nor fascinate us. This death we died once, in Christ's death. But we must also "die" every day. Death to the world. Death also to the old religious world.



People today have a renewed interest in the practices of all religious traditions. Remember, however, that religious rules and observances have no saving value, because they are outside of Christ. Worldly religiousness is defined by what people do. Christians are defined by what Christ has done.



Andrew Kuyvenhoven

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