“My next-door neighbor,” Stan commented one morning, “is one of those people you can rely on to do what he says.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“He has an expression he uses that illustrates what I’m talking about. If I ask him to do something, he is quick to say, ‘Consider it done’.”
“Meaning that if he says he will do it, it’s as good as done?”
“Exactly,” Stan replied. “And I was thinking about him earlier this morning when I was reading in one of the apostle Paul’s letters that he wrote to me, the one he also sent to the church in Rome.”
Continuing, he added, “I know I have mentioned this before, but I think the apostle Paul was gifted with the genius of being able to write a volume with a single word.”
“A volume with a single word? What do you mean?”
“Well,” Stan replied, “in this letter, Paul used a word that is translated into English to mean ‘consider’ when he was writing about being dead to sin. By his use of that word, it really opened me to see more deeply what he was writing about.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“In the sixth chapter of that letter, he wrote about how believers are to consider themselves being dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I have read that chapter many times, always with the thought that Paul was trying to convince me of something I wasn’t real sure about, but his use of that single word had a real impact on me and my faith walk.”
“Tell me again which single word you are talking about?”
“Paul used the word ‘consider’,” Stan replied.
“So?”
“I went to the dictionary to look up the meaning of that word and what I found opened me to a deeper understanding of the point Paul was making.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“’Consider’ means to ‘believe or accept after thinking about,’ Stan replied. “I had always taken this particular verse to mean that I was to think about what Paul had written, but, no, this goes way beyond that. It means I am to think about it and to accept it as true. In this instance, I am to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God; I am to be dead to sin and alive to Christ, not just think about it! It’s like God is saying, ‘Consider it done!’”
“But,” I asked, “what if people can’t or won’t believe what they have read or heard after thinking about it? I run across a lot of people I talk with about faith, Christ, Christianity, and all that, but they say they are not ready to believe. They say they are still thinking about it. What about them?”
“It seems to me,” Stan replied, “that they may be just as I was. I thought about what I was hearing and reading, but I didn’t go beyond thinking to believing. I did not do the ‘consider’ part until I surrendered and abandoned all that was in the way. God then opened me to see, believe, accept, and embrace the truth of all He had and continues to have for me. He said, in effect, ‘Consider it done.’ And I do.”
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Bible verses to consider:
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11.
I do believe; help my unbelief. Mark 9:24.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the free and gracious gift of salvation and redemption through the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross. Thank you, too, for providing the way for me to be dead to sin and alive to you in Christ through His life, death, and resurrection. Thank you for allowing me the freedom to read and to study your word and to listen to your voice so I am opened to all of the truth you have for me. Please, Father, fill me with all of the life that is available to me on this side of eternity so that I am truly alive in you through Christ. Thank you I can and do bring all of these prayers before you in His name. Amen.
Think on this: Dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. What does this mean to you? Do you believe you can be truly dead to sin? Why or why not? If sin seems to not stay dead in your life, why might that be? Is it possible you are still in the “thinking” stage of things, rather than moving on to the “consider” part of accepting as true what you are thinking about? If being truly dead to sin is something you would like for your life, how is that going to happen? Is that something you would like to be the hallmark of your life? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 