4/10/3

Activating the Spiritual Transplant

¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.  Romans 8:10-11 NIV 

One Fall I noticed a spot in our lawn that had become diseased and/or eaten by bugs.  Even after I applied fertilizer, water and bug killer, the grass continued to wilt and turn yellow.  Eventually, most of the grass died, leaving a 2 ft. diameter dead patch in the lawn.  I’ve learned with our type of grass that repair is best done with “plugs” of grass that are healthy.  The plugs are placed in a checkerboard pattern in the repair area and quickly fill in the gaps with new growth over a few weeks.    

I saw a spiritual analogy with my grass repair efforts and the above scripture from Romans.  When we sinned, our bodies were dead because of our sin.  Instead of trying to “fix” us by repairing the old life, God planted the Holy Spirit in us as a transplant plug to establish new life in our bodies.  Our new life is healthy and robust.  It is far better than our old sin-infested life.  With the new life in us, we can successfully live to please God. 

Too often people squash the new life from God by entertaining their old sinful habits.  Habitual sin literally puts the fire of the Spirit out (1 Thess. 5:19) and leaves us feeling spiritually dead.  If that is the case for you, remember that the new life is still in you.  You can re-activate it by repenting from your sin and inviting God to rekindle the fire. 

Questions for further thought:

• What is the source of the “new life” that you have through faith in Christ? (Romans 8:10-11)
• Sin affects our body, mind and spirit.  Can you think of some examples of how sin has affected you? 
• Why is it important for us to be alive spiritually and physically for God?  What happens when we continue to practice sinful habits? (Hebrews 3:13)

Prayer:

“Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving us the awesome gift of salvation through Jesus.  Thank you for giving me new life through the Holy Spirit who lives in me.  I confess the sin in my life that has hindered me from being alive to you in my body.  Please forgive me for that sin and cleanse me of it.  I want to be “resurrected” in my mortal body to righteousness, just like Jesus was.  Please activate that new life in me and empower me to live for you every day.  Thank you, Father!  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”