Have You Been Crucified

Accidents happen every day. Some are terribly tragic. A few years ago a man and his wife were suddenly awakened. They could hear someone in their house. The man took his pistol and quietly went to find the person who he thought had come to rob them. As he entered the living room someone jumped out from behind a door and screamed at him. Immediately the man turned and shot the intruder. When he turned the light on he cried out in horror. There on the floor lay his teenage daughter. She was supposed to be spending the night at a friends house, but for some reason had decided to come home. Apparently she thought it would be fun to scare her dad when he came into the room.

Days later this heartbroken dad got rid of every weapon he owned and vowed to never touch another gun. He did this not because he was suddenly against anyone owning a gun, but because any gun would remind him of what happened the night he accidentally killed his sweet daughter. I’m sure not everyone would do what this man did, but I can certainly understand why he decided to get rid of his guns.

There are situations where each of us will remove ourselves from things that pose a danger to us or our loved ones. Most would not walk close to the edge of a high cliff or walk into a den of poisonous snakes or run into a house engulfed by flames. We are careful to avoid anything that might injure us or kill us. Most of us obey the laws because we don’t want to be imprisoned. It just makes sense to guard against dangerous situations.

Yet millions are living in the midst of the most dangerous situation known to man. They are living their lives without Jesus. Therefore they are living in sin and are imprisoned by sin. If they die without Jesus they will be condemned to eternal hell. They love their sin more than Jesus. Another way to describe sin is living in the flesh, living for self. The Bible says that those living according to the flesh will die spiritually. But if a person lives according to the Spirit, in Jesus, they will live; live forever in heaven. A person can stop living in the flesh if he “puts to death the sinful deeds of the flesh”, the body.

We do not have to experience the most tragic thing known to mankind. We do not have to live in danger of eternal death. All a person has to do is believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, God’s Son, that he died and rose from the tomb and lives to save them from their sins. Ask God to forgive you and then turn from your sin. Just as the man got rid of his guns after the death of his daughter, we must put to death those dangerous deeds of our flesh which will destroy us. I will explain how to do this tomorrow in my blog.