Jesus claimed to be one with God, to hold power over life and death, and to deserve equal honor with the Father. He even declared that if you reject Him, you are calling God a liar. These are the words of someone who is either delusional or divine. Such radical claims don’t allow us to remain neutral. We must answer the unavoidable question: What will we do with Jesus? He cannot be admired from a distance or added as an accessory to our lives. In the end, there is no middle ground: we either bow in belief or turn away in blindness.
Buried and Raised: The Death of the Old You
What has the power to truly make a person new—not just a resolution to do better or try harder—but a total metamorphosis from the inside out? Romans 6 says the old you, the one enslaved to sin, had to die. And in Christ, that’s exactly what happened. When He was nailed to the cross and buried in the tomb, your old self died with Him. But you were also raised with Him into a new life, free to walk in His resurrection power. Christ now lives in you, equipping you with strength and victory that are not your own. That’s what baptism proclaims: not a cleaned-up version of who you were, but a new creation, born again, alive in Christ!
