A Devotion from Oswald Chambers

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,

that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:6.

Co-Crucifixion. Have I made this decision about sin—that it must be killed right out in me? It

takes a long time to come to a moral decision about sin, but it is the great moment in my life

when I do decide that just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world, so sin must die out in

me, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified. No one can bring any one else

to this decision. We may be earnestly convinced, and religiously convinced, but what we need

to do is to come to the decision which Paul forces here.

Haul yourself up, take a time alone with God, make the moral decision and say—‘Lord,

identify me with Thy death until I know that sin is dead in me.’ Make the moral decision that sin

in you must be put to death.

It was not a divine anticipation on the part of Paul, but a very radical and definite

experience. Am I prepared to let the Spirit of God search me until I know what the disposition

of sin is—the thing that lusts against the Spirit of God in me? Then if so, will I agree with God’s

verdict on that disposition of sin—that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? I cannot

reckon myself “dead indeed unto sin” unless I have been through this radical issue of will

before God.

Have I entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ until all that is left is

the life of Christ in my flesh and blood? “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me.”