Human governments can be astonishingly cruel, especially autocratic and totalitarian regimes. It has been this way since the earliest days of humanity. Some of these extraordinarily wrong-headed absolute monarchs had no formal laws, just the king's will. They executed their enemies and "wrongdoers," never informing them of the laws they broke.

We can be thankful that the living God has made His law abundantly clear; it is spelled out in detail throughout the Bible. By surrendering ourselves to God and conducting ourselves in harmony with His revealed truth, we can live abundantly, and our lives become transformed, exhibiting a number of godly characteristics.

First, we become dead to sin, as Colossians 3:3 states: "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." As part of Christ's body, we are hidden in Him like a treasure in a vault, precious gems God wants to protect.

Observers may remark when seeing someone sleeping soundly, "He's dead to the world." In other words, while he is sleeping so deeply, the world cannot influence him. So it is with us, in terms of sin, as long as we are hidden in God: The world cannot influence us to sin. We can only be influenced toward evil if we step outside the protection He provides.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" The word "live [in sin]" refers, not to a single sin, but to sin as a way of life. If one should get mud on his boot on occasion, it could hardly be said that he is living in mud.

So, if we continue living in sin, we are not dead to its influence. Dead people are not influenced or moved by anything. Paul writes a few verses later, "For he who has died has been freed from sin" (Romans 6:7), and in II Timothy 2:11, "This is a faithful saying: ‘For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him." As converted Christians, we have turned our backs on sin, and our whole focus must be on our Savior.

Second, we have fellowship with Christ's death, as Paul writes in Romans 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (see Galatians 5:24). The apostle is not speaking of a physical dead body since he writes just two verses later, "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him'" (verse 8). The dead know nothing and believe nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:10). So, the death of "the body of sin" allows the one crucified with Christ to live—really live!

This truth means we need to examine ourselves to determine whether we have truly crucified the flesh. Have we put to death those behaviors and speech that transgress God's law? Have we rooted out everything that contradicts the character of Christ? Notice the promise in Isaiah 33:15-16:

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil: He will dwell on high, his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure.

We must do as Paul recommends in Colossians 3:1-2: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." If we maintain our focus, we are not likely to wander off the path, and we will one day reap the blessings of fellowship with Christ.

Third, we will render Him unquestioning obedience and service. Wholeheartedness is required to do this, as Deuteronomy 6:5 commands: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." The following context requires us to constantly think, talk, act, and teach this in every possible aspect of life and living! Later in the same book, Moses instructs God's people:

Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days . . .. (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)

This wholehearted obedience is not something done for us; we have to do our part, focusing on the goal. Solomon sums up the Christian life for us in Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all [the whole duty of man, KJV]." As the adage goes, "Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." Our entire being should be consumed by the desire to serve the living God, difficult as that may be. We must be like Noah, as described in Genesis 6:22: "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did."

Fourth, we must exhibit resignation amid our trials. This means we should be patient and accepting of God's judgments and the occasional tests He gives us. We should not take offense or rail at God for the inconvenience of it all or the suffering we may experience. We need to have the attitude Job initially expressed when God allowed him to go through truly terrible trials: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). Aaron, Eli, David, and others modeled this acceptance of God's will in the face of personal adversity.

Jesus Christ, of course, exhibited the perfect attitude in Matthew 26:42 in the hours before His arrest: "He went away and prayed, saying ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.'" He accepted the Father's will, even though it meant His death. We need to learn to do the same, as tough as it is.

Fifth, and finally, we must always submit to God's will. When God's law has been written on a faithful Christian's heart, he will reflect David's declaration in Psalm 40:8: "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart." Not only has he submitted to the will of God, but he also takes great joy in fulfilling it. If God's law is not etched indelibly on our inward being, it has not truly become a part of us; it is merely a collection of external regulations, which we find we cannot really keep. Many worldly Christians have no clue what God requires of them because, instead of internalizing His law, they have rejected it entirely.

Jesus says plainly in Matthew 12:50, "For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." Those who have been called into God's Family do what the Father instructs them to do—otherwise, they are rebels and do not belong. And doing God's will should not be perfunctory, as Paul adds in Ephesians 6:5-6, but performed as faithful servants to their Master: ". . . be obedient . . . with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart . . ." (emphasis ours). God does not want anything from us unless we give it in a whole-heart attitude.

We must give God our all in every aspect of our lives. He has revealed His will, His instructions, in His Word so that we can know what He expects of us and do it as thoroughly as we are able—and more with His help. By following this course, we build the spiritual muscle—the godly character—that we need to live with the Father and the Son in the Kingdom.