“Reckon yourselves dead, indeed” (Rom. vi. 11).
Our life from the dead is to be followed up by the habit and attitude
henceforth which is the logical outcome of all this. “Reckon yourselves
_dead indeed_, unto sin, but _alive unto God_ through Jesus Christ, and
yield yourselves unto God,” not to die over again every day, “_but, as
those who are alive from the dead_, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God.”
Further His resurrection life is given to fit us for “the fellowship of
His sufferings and to be made conformable unto His death.”
It is intended to enable us to toil and suffer with rejoicing and victory.
We “mount up with wings as eagles,” that we may come back to “run and not
be weary, to walk and not faint.”
But let us not mistake the sufferings. They do not mean _our_ sufferings,
but His. They are not our struggles after holiness, our sicknesses and
pains, but those higher sufferings which, with Him, we bear for others,
and for a suffering church and a dying world. May God help us, henceforth,
never to have another sorrow for ourselves, and put us at leisure, in the
power of His resurrection, to bear His burdens and drink His cup.