A friend of mine often speaks of how we’ve been made alive in “Christ even though as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Despite how simple this statement of Christianity is—we were dead in our sins but are alive in Christ—many of us believers struggle with feeling that our sins are actually very alive in us. In fact, some of the same old ones we’ve fought as long as we can remember just don’t seem to die.
To fully embrace that we are “alive with Christ,” we need to understand the depth of how dead we are in our sins. He has forgiven us and cleansed us from all unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9). We didn’t do any part of that job ourselves. He canceled the debt that stood against us; He nailed every sin from our entire lives to the cross. We can’t forgive our sins; only Christ does that. He alone makes us alive.
A dead person is just dead. But Christ, who raised Himself from the dead, raises the dead and makes us alive! Even while we wrestle with sin, Christ makes us alive in Him.