Are You Alive

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 

Colossians 2:13 NIV

I get what being made alive in Christ means, theoretically. But, what that means in how I am different from before I became a Christian, I struggle to put that in words.  

Here's what I do know: Within me, without God, I am completely unrighteous (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:9-20). It is only by the Spirit I can say that Jesus is Lord (I Corinthians 12:3). This leads me to the conclusion that any thought I have about God is the Spirit working in me. If I feel convicted about something, that's the Holy Spirit because otherwise I just wouldn't care. That's being alive Spiritually, or, evidence of being made alive with Christ. It's not about a warm fuzzy feeling, because I often think about God without a lot of emotion. Don't get me wrong. I do often respond emotionally to the truth that in Christ God loves me. It just that faith often moves me when I feel the least like I'm spiritual.

And here is the bottom line for today: Any thought about God, about loving in his Name, about reading the Bible, doing the right (righteous) thing, praying or just remembering that God is Sovereign Lord and Jesus is your Savior, that is part of being alive with Christ. In a sense, just reading this is God being alive in you...