"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
This (above) is a neat way to frame the churchman's life. To a very large extent, overall victory or defeat as a Christian is determined by how we "reckon" ourselves. If we "reckon" ourselves to be "dead" to something, this will have a dramatic effect on us. Conversely, if we "reckon" ourselves to be "alive" to Someone--this also will profoundly impact us.
Faith is largely about "reckoning." The battle is won or lost in our hearts and minds, way before we ever encounter the stimuli, i.e. temptation (that will prove, or disprove our "mettle"). Let us take time today to "reckon" ourselves as belonging to Jesus, and hence dead to sin.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Joseph dreamed of the preferment and honor he would have above his brethren, but dreamed not of being sold into Egypt, nor of his imprisonment there." --Jeremiah Burroughs, in, "The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit"]
