The Trappings of Death

Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

John 5:24

We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:2-4

There's a certain irony to Halloween in that a lot of very attractive and successful people, who regularly spend lots of time and money trying to make themselves look younger and prettier, for one night spend lots of time and money trying to make themselves look more dead and ugly. You can imagine how confusing this would be to someone who was completely unfamiliar with our culture. Why would living people wanting to dress up as zombies and the like?

Now, I am not making a point about whether or not believers should celebrate Halloween. Rather, I realized that this aspect of Halloween poignantly illustrates how so many believers live their everyday lives. Though they have "crossed over from death to life," they continue to live as though they haven't, walking around in the trappings of death every day.

Allow me to explain. Scripture teaches that anyone who believes in Jesus has been given eternal life. This life is not just something in the far off distant future but is actually given to the believer right now. Jesus says anyone who believes has "crossed over from death to life." Another Scripture puts it this way, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

So then we ought to walk through this world as those who truly are spiritually alive. Far too many believers live in hatred, unforgiveness, arrogance, selfishness, and all the sinful ways they walked in before they came to know Christ. These are the trappings of death! And it simply makes no sense for someone who has crossed over from death to life to go on living as the dead do. You were baptized into Jesus' death, so that you might die to sin and put the things of the world behind you. So put off the old sinful ways you used to walk in. Live a new life! In fact, start living like someone who has eternal life right now.