BBD 05.19.14 Playing Dead (New)

#1 · May 19, 2014, 5:17 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on May 19, 2014, 5:17 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

05.19.14

Playing
Dead

We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we
stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. -
Isaiah 59:10 NKJV.

For the
death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He
lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God
as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but
under grace. - Romans 6:10-14.

Chuck
Lamb found a new occupation in 2005. His occupation? Chuck’s dead, as in he
plays dead. It all began one night when he and his wife were watching Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit. Chuck had always wanted to be an actor and he
suddenly realized that he could be even though he never thought he had any
special talent. He decided that he could be “dead
guy Chuck” and made some videos and photos of himself. Viola! “Dead Guy Chuck” now makes as much as
$1500 a day playing dead for TV shows and movies. Chuck
says, “I look
like a dead body. If you're going to get somebody to play dead you might as
well get the palest most normal looking guy you can find. No one's ever going
to call me and ask me to be the leading man heart throb so I thought I'd put
what God gave me to good use. I thought outside the box by putting myself in
the box.” (Mail Online 05.05.14; Today.com 10.28.13)

In Isaiah 59, the people were as good as dead because of their turning
away from God and their sinfulness. The people were like “dead men in desolate places.” Today, there are people like them although
they are not really dead, they are just playing dead. The apostle Paul is
talking about these people in Romans
chapter six.
Apparently, there were those who knew Christ, but were not living like it, they
were playing dead. Paul says in Romans 6:4,
“…we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.”

Sad, isn’t it? We who are alive in Christ are playing dead by
letting “sin reign
in” our “mortal”
bodies (Romans 6:12) and by “present(ing)” our “members as
instruments of unrighteousness to sin (Romans 6:13).” The result of this
acting like we are dead is described in Isaiah “We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we
stumble at noonday as at twilight.” In other words, we wander around in
spiritual darkness never knowing which way to turn, making bad decision after
bad decision; never accomplishing anything.

Romans chapter six gives us
the solution to spiritual deadness. The solution is this: “…present yourselves to God as being alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans
6:13bc).” “…reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” Please, stop with
the playing dead act and make this be your mantra, your motto for life, real
life: Dead to sin, alive to Christ. Dead to sin, alive to Christ. Dead to sin,
alive to Christ.

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

05.19.14

Playing
Dead

We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we
stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. -
Isaiah 59:10 NKJV.

For the
death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He
lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God
as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but
under grace. - Romans 6:10-14.

Chuck
Lamb found a new occupation in 2005. His occupation? Chuck’s dead, as in he
plays dead. It all began one night when he and his wife were watching Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit. Chuck had always wanted to be an actor and he
suddenly realized that he could be even though he never thought he had any
special talent. He decided that he could be “dead
guy Chuck” and made some videos and photos of himself. Viola! “Dead Guy Chuck” now makes as much as
$1500 a day playing dead for TV shows and movies. Chuck
says, “I look
like a dead body. If you're going to get somebody to play dead you might as
well get the palest most normal looking guy you can find. No one's ever going
to call me and ask me to be the leading man heart throb so I thought I'd put
what God gave me to good use. I thought outside the box by putting myself in
the box.” (Mail Online 05.05.14; Today.com 10.28.13)

In Isaiah 59, the people were as good as dead because of their turning
away from God and their sinfulness. The people were like “dead men in desolate places.” Today, there are people like them although
they are not really dead, they are just playing dead. The apostle Paul is
talking about these people in Romans
chapter six.
Apparently, there were those who knew Christ, but were not living like it, they
were playing dead. Paul says in Romans 6:4,
“…we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.”

Sad, isn’t it? We who are alive in Christ are playing dead by
letting “sin reign
in” our “mortal”
bodies (Romans 6:12) and by “present(ing)” our “members as
instruments of unrighteousness to sin (Romans 6:13).” The result of this
acting like we are dead is described in Isaiah “We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we
stumble at noonday as at twilight.” In other words, we wander around in
spiritual darkness never knowing which way to turn, making bad decision after
bad decision; never accomplishing anything.

Romans chapter six gives us
the solution to spiritual deadness. The solution is this: “…present yourselves to God as being alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans
6:13bc).” “…reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” Please, stop with
the playing dead act and make this be your mantra, your motto for life, real
life: Dead to sin, alive to Christ. Dead to sin, alive to Christ. Dead to sin,
alive to Christ.

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org