You are Already Dead

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” 2 Tim. 2:1-4

During the height of a bloody battle behind enemy lines during the D-Day invasion of German-help France, an older American paratrooper counseled a young private who was petrified with fear as he witnessed the carnage of dead and mangled Germans and fellow Americans strewn all around him. The young man paralyzed by fear, as he envisaged an almost certain, similar fate for himself in the days ahead.

The older soldier’s counsel was chilling but poignant: “Accept the fact that you are already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function... All war depends upon it.”

Oh, what a biblical truism in the life and spiritual war in which we find ourselves as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ! Truth in the natural often portrays truth in the spiritual. The Apostle Paul used similar words....

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3

“And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10

Remember, we are in a spiritual war. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

A Christian cannot be an effective soldier in this fight and live for our Lord until he has died to self.