Or are you ignorant that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Romans 6:3

Death – Someone once asked George Muller what was his secret for serving God?  In his reply, Muller said, “There was a day I died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, taste and will, and died to the world, its approval or censure. Then I must be occupied in some other way in the service of God, to glorify Him is the object of my life.”  

Christians hold up Muller as an amazing model of a life of prayer.  We cite the instances of miracles in his life.  We almost envy how God used him.  But when we hear these words, we’re not so excited.  Death is the end of things.  At least it seems so to most of the world.  It means that all those dreams I have, all those plans I have, all those things I still want to possess pass away – they’re gone – into the grave.  That’s what Paul is pressing us to understand.  A slave of the Messiah has no personal agenda!  He or she is dead to private plans and projects.  That’s why baptism is not regeneration.  It is a funeral.  I die under the water just as surely as if I had drowned.

When I come up from that dead pool, I am alive only because the Spirit has generated a new me.  Now I answer only to the call of my Master.  Now God can use me without a fight.

At least that’s the theory, isn’t’ it?  Unfortunately, most of us seem to have held our breath when we were baptized.  We really weren’t ready to die.  We just wanted to be cleaned up a bit.  We would rather have gone through a wash cycle than a funeral.  Maybe that’s why God has so much trouble using us for His great and glorious purposes.  I have no doubt whatsoever that God desires to explode our lives with His goodness.  I have no doubt at all that He is capable of doing so.  But my own experience tells me that the reason I don’t see spiritual fireworks is more often due to washing rather than dying.  The history of Israel is exactly like my history.  Too often I am not quite willing to let out all the oxygen and trust that God will raise me from the dead.  That’s really what it comes down to, isn’t it?  It’s a matter of trust.  I don’t really trust God to bring me back to life.  I know He can, but I’m just not sure He will.  Or worse, I think He will but it won’t be the life that I wanted.

There is no rescue without dying.  There is no resurrection without the cross.  And there is no life without a funeral.  We are called to die.  God will do the rest.

Topical Index: death, thanatos, George Muller, Romans 6:3, baptism

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