Yet for us to get right with God, we\u2019ve all got to attend what Oswald Chambers would call our own \u201cwhite funeral\u201d\u2014the burial of our old lives. We call it a white funeral because our old natures\u2014the accepted wisdom that we\u2019ve relied on has gotten us nowhere\u2014must die. Most of us who know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior remember the exact time and date when we attended our own white funeral. Our needs changed from craving success, status, and material pleasures to craving a relationship with Jesus. It is as if we became captivated by God. The Holy Spirit pulled at our hearts like a magnet. We became new persons on the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of us who do not yet have a relationship with Jesus, we need a white funeral\u2014to be born again. We may scratch our heads, not really knowing what that means. What it means is this: When we come to that place where our hearts cry out to God and we open them to the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ enters into our hearts. If we truly appeal to God to change our lives in a transforming way, our old natures die and our new natures are born. We gain freedom from guilt, fear, anger, and an unforgiving heart. In its place is a heart that acknowledges sin and comprehends Jesus\u2019 amazing sacrifice on our behalf. We become newborns\u2014new creations in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Our sinful selves die; we bury it at our \u201cwhite funeral\u201d and begin a new life in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yet for us to get right with God, we\u2019ve all got to attend what Oswald Chambers would call our own \u201cwhite funeral\u201d\u2014the burial of our old lives. We call it a white funeral because our old natures\u2014the accepted wisdom that we\u2019ve relied on has gotten us nowhere\u2014must die. Most of us who know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior remember … <\/p>\n