April 11: Romans 6:5 — Dead to Self. Alive in Christ. (Today's Reflection from My Utmost For His Highest)

 

Romans 6:5
"If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection ..."

There is a point in the Christian life where you stop trying to “be better” and you finally agree with God’s verdict on your old self. Paul calls it being united with Christ in His death. It’s not dramatic. It’s not emotional. It’s a decision — a surrender of the will. This is where death to sin and self actually happens. When you surrender your will to God, you are agreeing that your old way of living has no authority over you anymore. You are placing your self‑life — your reactions, your pride, your independence, your need to control — under the Cross. You are saying, “This no longer rules me. Christ does.”

If you read yesterday’s reflection — A Decision That Changes Everything — you’ll recognize this moment. It’s the same turning point: the will bowing before God. That devotional lays out why the self must die and what happens when it does. If you missed it or want to revisit it, you can read it here:  
A Decision That Changes Everything

And this is where today's verse picks up — with what happens next. Once the will bows, something shifts. Sin loses its claim because the self that used to respond to it is no longer in charge. The Spirit takes the place that self used to occupy. He begins to govern the inner life — not by force, but by presence. This is when the resurrection life of Jesus starts to penetrate your actual human nature.

Chambers says the proof that we have been crucified with Christ is that we begin to show a likeness to Him. Not imitation. Not behavior modification. But a real, recognizable expression of His life inside ours.

This is where the Holy Spirit stops being a “guest” in one room of the house and becomes the One who invades the whole house. He rearranges the inner life. He takes charge of the motives, the reactions, the desires, the tone, the impulses, the hidden corners.

Not harshly.
Not forcefully.
But with the quiet authority of Someone who actually owns the place.

And this is where holiness stops being something we strain toward and becomes something that shows up because His life is in us. Holiness is not our achievement. It is the expression of His resurrection life.

Paul’s point — and Chambers’ point — is simple:
Once you have identified your “old man” with the death of Jesus, it becomes easy to “reckon yourself dead to sin” because you find the life of Jesus rising in you all the time.

You don’t fight sin from the outside.
You live from Christ on the inside.

There is only one kind of holiness — the holiness of Jesus.
And God puts that holiness into you.
You belong to a new spiritual order now.
You walk in a life that is not your own.
You respond from a strength you didn’t generate.
You carry a purity you didn’t produce.
You live from a resurrection that is already happening in you.

This is complete and effective divinity — not in you, but in Him, living through you.

Prayer

Lord, I come to You with a willing heart.

I agree with Your verdict on my old self — 

it cannot rule me anymore.

I surrender my will to You.

Let sin lose its claim, and let the self that cooperated with sin be brought to death in Christ.

Take Your rightful place in me.

Fill the rooms of my inner life where self once ruled.

Let Your Spirit govern my thoughts, my reactions, my desires, and my choices.

I want the life of Jesus to rise in me. 

Make me alive to righteousness.

Make me dead to the old patterns that once controlled me.

Let Your life be the life I live.

In Jesus' holy name, Amen.

BREATH PRAYER
Inhale: Invade every room, Lord.
Exhale: Let Your life be my life.

His holiness in me...
~ Quil

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Scripture References:

1. “There is a point in the Christian life where you stop trying to ‘be better’ and you finally agree with God’s verdict on your old self.”
   Romans 6:6 — our old self was crucified with Him.
   Romans 6:11 — reckon yourselves dead to sin.
   Colossians 3:3 — you died, and your life is hidden with Christ.

2. “Paul calls it being united with Christ in His death.”
   Romans 6:5 — united with Him in the likeness of His death.
   Galatians 2:20 — I am crucified with Christ.
   Colossians 2:12 — buried with Him in baptism.

3. “When you surrender your will to God, you are agreeing that your old way of living has no authority over you anymore.”
   Romans 6:14 — sin shall not have dominion over you.
   Romans 8:2 — the law of the Spirit sets you free.
   Galatians 5:1 — Christ has set us free.

4. “Sin loses its claim because the self that used to respond to it is no longer in charge.”
   Romans 6:7 — he who has died is freed from sin.
   Romans 6:18 — freed from sin, you became servants of righteousness.
   Galatians 5:24 — those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.

5. “The Spirit takes the place that self used to occupy.”
   Romans 8:9 — the Spirit of God dwells in you.
   Galatians 5:16 — walk by the Spirit.
   Ezekiel 36:27 — I will put My Spirit within you.

6. “This is when the resurrection life of Jesus starts to penetrate your actual human nature.”
   Romans 8:11 — the Spirit gives life to your mortal bodies.
   Colossians 3:4 — Christ is your life.
   2 Corinthians 4:10–11 — the life of Jesus is manifested in our body.

7. “Holiness is not our achievement. It is the expression of His resurrection life.”
   1 Thessalonians 5:23 — God Himself sanctifies you.
   Hebrews 12:10 — He disciplines us to share His holiness.
   Philippians 2:13 — God works in you to will and to act.

8. “Once you have identified your old man with the death of Jesus, it becomes easy to reckon yourself dead to sin.”
   Romans 6:11 — reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin.
   Romans 6:8 — if we died with Christ, we believe we will live with Him.
   Colossians 3:5 — put to death what is earthly in you.

9. “You don’t fight sin from the outside. You live from Christ on the inside.”
   Galatians 2:20 — Christ lives in me.
   Colossians 1:27 — Christ in you, the hope of glory.
   Romans 8:10 — Christ is in you.

10. “You walk in a life that is not your own… you live from a resurrection that is already happening in you.”
    2 Corinthians 5:17 — if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
    Romans 6:4 — walk in newness of life.
    Ephesians 2:5–6 — made alive with Christ and raised with Him.

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