Medical students in Taiwan are being buried alive. This practice, which sounds like it could lead to a serious shortage of Taiwanese doctors in a few years, doesn’t actually lead to death. The docs-in- training at Rende Medical College are simply placed in a sealed coffin for a period of 10 minutes. Why? To give them insights into death and to provide them with a new appreciation for life.

The apostle Paul taught that we were basically buried alive too. We remained physically alive, but we died spiritually to sin. In Romans 6, Paul declared that “we died and were buried with Christ” (Romans 6:4). This means that when we received Jesus as our Savior, we died to sin. The result is that a true believer simply can’t continue to live in constant sin. If we do, then it’s likely that we’ve never truly been born again, for “those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God” (1 John 3:9).

So “our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives” (Romans 6:6). Does this mean that we can achieve sinless perfection in this life? Nope. But we should see new patterns of holiness increasingly replacing old patterns of sin.

Paul told us we have a choice: “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires” (Romans 6:12).

Instead, we must prayerfully, actively die to sin each day—choosing to “give [ourselves] completely to God” (Romans 6:13) and claiming God’s power over sin. For “sin is no longer [our] master” (Romans 6:14).

Today, let’s choose to die to sin as we remember that we’ve already been buried with Jesus.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Colossians 2:1-15