[We are] always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10)
Life and death are two great enemies, and my body is their battleground. They are both inside me, plotting the demise of one another. Only one can win for eternity.
Wars are won by a series of victorious battles, and triumph only comes to me as I choose life in the daily skirmishes. That sounds simple enough but death is a wily enemy. It flays living gifts and pulls on their skin to pose as life. Family, jobs, food—any day I concentrate on a gift more than on the Giver, then death has won.
The secret power to win this war is found in the death of Jesus.
Jesus’s death was not death to life, it was death to death. He died to defeat death at the final resurrection, and now in my person. I am to carry his death to death and apply it to whatever opposes God’s kingdom.
Pride will never make it into God’s presence, so if I humble myself now, then death dies and life lives.
No bitterness is permitted into the City of God, so by forgiving others now, death perishes and life rises.
Like Paul before me, I want to fight my battles well. I want to carry the death of Jesus with me.
For today, it's enough if I can remember death to death equals real life.
Prayer: Jesus, help me carry your death to the things of death.