A LIVE unto God, and dead to sin, or alive unto sin and dead to God―which? You must be one or the other; there is no intermediate position. I was waking from a beautiful dream and these solemn words spoke in my heart: “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Again half asleep, I kept on saying, “Alive or dead?” and as I woke I said to myself, “These words are given me to tell our dear men at the Front and elsewhere.”
When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ be out-and-out for Him; show your colors that your comrades may see you are dead to sin and alive unto God. I remember so well hearing of Major Vandeleur, who, when he was converted, at once stood up for God. A young officer who was speaking to me of him said, using the slang term, he was a “blue,” meaning he was religious, but then he was such a “bright blue” that everyone loved and respected him. Yes, if you are true to God, turning away from sin and striving to do your duty in His sight, you will be beloved and respected. As was the sailor on one of the battleships in Suvla Bay. Bishop Price wrote of him, “When I finished my address he sang a solo, with the refrain, ‘He died of a broken heart for thee. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said, ‘that hymn was the means of my conversion. I heard it on a gramophone.’” There is nothing more delightful than to see Christian men, officers or otherwise, showing their colors, honoring their Saviour, and trying to lead others to Him.
Do let these words ring in your ears: “Dead to sin, and alive unto God.” Keep repeating them, and ask God the Holy Spirit to teach you what they mean. “Ask and ye shall receive.” Remember God’s Word has quickening power, and this is why we so gladly put Testaments into your pockets. I so well remember a lately converted man answering the clergyman who asked, “What part of my sermon converted you?” “Not a word, sir,” said the man, “it was the text.” So keep on repeating the text I give you from Romans 6:11: “Dead unto sin, but alive unto God.”
Emily P. Leakey