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On this day, twenty-eight years ago, I was born. I am so blessed (not an understatement) to be alive. The gift of life is a gift from above and I thank the Living God for keeping me through my times of wandering throughout my youth.

As I’ve been taking time asking God to expose loose ends in my life that need Jesus to reveal truth and me to take action for these promises to be fulfilled, (through things in my body-house, things in my structural house, and things in my relationships) one thing I forgot about was a Friday the 13th flash tattoo I had gotten about three or four years ago. I wanted to highlight this for a specific reason—hear me out.

I got this design of a coffin which was design number 4 on the flash sheet. I like the number 4, primarily because it marks the fourth month of the Gregorian calendar, and 421 is special to me aside from my date of birth, but the sum of the digits equal 7. The coffin said “death,” and I had the idea of getting a cross that would say “life” at some point after the fact, as I had wanted a cross on the back of my arm since before I got my first tattoos years ago—I just waited on it.

After being far from God and not having revelation in my life that Jesus has brought me into through my previous season of shaking, I knew I wanted to get my cross. I went in Illustrator to get the design and called the new shop my go-to tattoo artist in the “tri-state area,” Wendy, works and asked the earliest I could be seen. I was hoping to get booked before I travel down to Nashville to close out my old storage unit and close that door (which initially was scheduled to happen last week, now it’s in May). To my advantage, she had a cancellation on the 21st! I was surprised and excited to walk into this new season of newness in so many ways as a new creation in my Savior, Jesus!

The design is a cross that’s formed as a double-edged sword, with a banner that states “LIFE,” with “Gal 2:20” and “Heb 4:12” on the ends. Over the years, I’ve reflected on the death that is found in life—in our physical bodies, and death equating to despair—but I rest in the life that is found in death—death to our flesh, pride, and shortcomings—that only comes through Yeshua. As the lyrics of Christ be Magnified say: “Death is just the doorway into resurrection life,” I allow myself to be worked on by and with Christ every day so His plans for my life can be fulfilled. I want what He wants for me, and I am grateful to be given the choice.

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Scriptural Reading

‘I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ‘ Galatians 2:20 CSB

‘For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ‘ Hebrews 4:12 CSB

‘“Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?… ‘ Isaiah 43:18-19 CSB

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?” We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:11-21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

‘For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. ‘ Hebrews 4:12-13 CSB

‘From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 CSB

‘ A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. ‘ John 10:10 CSB

‘ “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” ‘ John 10:14-18 CSB

‘ Lord , you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks, a fortified city, into ruins; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt. Therefore, a strong people will honor you. The cities of violent nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold for the poor person, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, a refuge from storms and a shade from heat. When the breath of the violent is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry land, you will subdue the uproar of barbarians. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day, so he will silence the song of the violent. On this mountain, the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine. On this mountain he will swallow up the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations. When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. ‘ Isaiah 25:1-8 CSB

‘So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him. “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.#5:27 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.‘ John 5:19-30 NLT

‘Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
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. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 6 NLT