“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:6-7.

“I have been crucified with Christ; 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 gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

The key to living a successful christian life is found in the fundamental principle of recognizing that at our conversion our old self was literally crucified with Christ on the cross. The result of this death is that we are no longer slaves to sin and have been freed from it. In other words, sin no longer controls us and when we choose to sin after conversion it is a conscious choice and not because we could not help ourselves. Certainly we all experience temptation, even after salvation, and when we choose to pursue sin we can even continue to build up strongholds that are difficult to break but, for a Christian, it does not have to be this way.

The reason so many Christians live such defeated lives is that we do not live in the Truth that we are dead to sin. Instead of treating ourselves as dead and letting Christ live through us we try to take back control of our life and fall into sin and defeat. Now that Christ lives in us we should discontinue living and simply die to self and find the promised freedom from sin. William MacDonald has said – “It is not a matter of striving, but of trusting.”

The Greek word for “old” in Romans 6:6 does not refer to something old in years but to something that is worn out and useless. Our useless old man has been crucified with Christ and no longer exists. Should we not live in that Truth? Would it not be wonderful if we, as Christians, could simply submit to Christ, get ourselves out of the way and trust Him to live out our life for us. Then we could fully experience the power of God through His Holy Spirit in our life as it would not be us living our life but Christ Himself. What a rest we would have from fruitless striving and what joy and victory our life would have. He has promised to live your life for you if you will let Him. Do you trust Him to do so? This Easter season are you willing to die to self, give up control and rest in Christ?