"We shall be saved by His life"

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"We shall be saved by His life"

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Many times devout and well-meaning people focus only on Christ's death for salvation and do not bring into proper perspective His life.

His passion and death are very important aspects of God's plan. His death provides us with the sacrifice necessary for the reconciliation with God and the forgiveness of sin.

But this only begins the process. That Christ lived again, was resurrected from the grave, and lives today is necessary for us to have any hope of eternal life. For it is the risen Christ who helps us to continue in obedience to God and intercedes with the Father when we fall short.

Yes, God forgives us and saves us through His grace—the gift of His divinely bestowed favor. We do not earn salvation (eternal life) through obedience. Nonetheless, God requires as a condition of His gift of salvation that we cease from practicing sin as a way of life and start obeying Him. Follow on in Romans 6: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2).

Sin is a word that many don't like to use today. People do not want to accept the idea of conduct that violates the law of God. Our physically saturated world dulls our sensitivities to a spiritual dimension of life that is real. So many tend to think the physical is all there is to life.

As a result, the existence of spiritual laws that govern how we live is a foreign concept. Man is a physical being but with a spiritual dimension that allows us to connect with God and have a relationship with Him. The spiritual laws He revealed, when obeyed, enable us to live free of a lot of the pain and suffering brought on by bad decisions and behavior.

This is what Paul meant in Romans 12:1-2 when he wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (New International Version).

Most people don't realize that a wonderful, blessed life, a new standard, is in store for them if they are open to the transformation God offers. As Christ described it: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together [to make room for more] and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38, NIV).

Christ's resurrection paved the way for us to experience, to taste and see, to know God better and to live the abundant life He has for us (John 10:10). We begin to think differently, and our lives have the potential to be more than we ever imagined—for they can be what God imagines!

Our eternal salvation depends on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He had to live again to serve as our High Priest who intercedes for us with the Father. He had to live to send the Holy Spirit and live in us through that Spirit to help us stop sinning and keep obeying God. He had to live to later return as intervening King to save the world from destroying itself—and to at that time “raise [us] up at the last day” (John 6:44). Without a risen Savior, we would be doomed. But the wonderful reality is that He lives—and that we shall be saved by His life.