Dead Man Walking

“…is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be punished at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Patrick Henry – March 23, 1775

Used to be that when I thought about finally reaching adulthood my idea of being grown-up was that I could live and do as I wanted without having to listen to anyone… I followed the Nick Romano theory (from the book “Knock on Any Door”) of live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse.

Anytime some well-meaning elder told me to live life to the fullest, I just assumed they meant that I should have a blast. So quite naturally I spent a lot of weekends partying like a rock star. Ingesting alcohol and drugs became staples of the trade; and there were also the occasional acts of fornication or adultery, whichever came first.

All of this wild behavior from a “PK”…

Sure I would always hear mom and dad make mention of hell and the lake of fire being a place created for those whose names were not found in the “Lambs Book of Life” but I always thought I’d have plenty of time to get things right with God before I died, not realizing that Christ could have returned at any moment.

But like anyone else who was addicted to the thug, drug, and party life back then I did have a fear of dying for two reasons. First the thought of me going to hell was frightening, and second; I just wanted to live my hell-raising life forever. I was prisoner to sin and a slave to degradation. I preyed on more people than I prayed for no matter if it was for sex, drugs money, or just to show how wicked I could really be… “There was no real cause guiding my life.”

I can still hear my mother verbally chastising me one day in reference to my being a member of a band and playing night-clubs every weekend; many of which I’d neglect to come home for days at a time. It really broke her heart to know that her eldest child had turned from the Christian values he once lived by and was now living as an infidel… My poor dad whom I idolized must have been spinning in his grave.

“THANK GOD FOR JESUS!”

Finally, after years of prodigal living, the Holy Spirit brought back to my memory who I’m called to be and to whom I belonged; almost immediately, old things passed away, and all things became new.

Today I’m repulsed by sin when it rears its head in my life, my heart breaks each time that I break my Saviors heart, and as a dear thirst for water from a brook, my soul thirsts after the forgiveness and love from my heavenly Father…

When Christ carried all of our sins to Calvary and died in our stead, He afforded us the opportunity to kill the old man / woman we used to be, after which case we were rewarded with life everlasting.

Paul writes in Romans 6:5-7:

 “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”

When we die daily to the desires of our flesh, we are made free from the slavery of sin… Paul goes further to say: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” Galatians 2:20

When we realize that we belong to Christ, we crucify our flesh along with its desires and lusts. (Ref. Galatians 5:24)

As soldiers of the cross we must be willing to die each day to the urge to commit sin in our bodies, for the sake of winning many to Christ… (Ref. Romans 8:36)

We read in Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night…”



Oh what blessed assurance it is to walk with the Savior, delighting in His grace and mercy; but the only way we can experience such a benefit, is to die to the sinful ways of the world.

I’m a dead man walking; how about you?