Read: Romans 6:1-11
If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. (2 Tim. 2:11-12)
You are likely familiar with talk about Jesus’s death on the cross. Christ died for us, for our sins. But for Christians, there is another way to think about Christ’s death. “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This is a dramatic way of describing the difference between life before Christ and after Christ. It’s like dying and being buried, and then being raised from the dead into new life.
Two things follow from this. The first is that we must live into the new life, not the old one. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). The second is that this new life is forever. Death is not the end for those who have put their faith in Jesus, it’s just the beginning.
Paul tells Timothy this saying is trustworthy. However, it is also conditional: if we have died with Christ, we will live with him; and if we endure, we will also reign with him. To die with Christ means to identify with him in his death and resurrection, and to put to death the sin that remains in us. To endure means to keep doing that to the very end. The promise of life isn’t to those who start the Christian race, but to those who finish it.
As you pray, ask God to help you finish the race of faith.
About the Author
Rev. David Bast
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, includingWhy Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
