Imagine for a moment that you live in an old, run down, dilapidated shack. One like one you see on World Vision pictures from 3rd world countries – rusty metal kind of thrown over top of a couple walls full of holes. No running water. No toilet. Dirt on the floor when it is dry, mud when it is wet. Crude fire pit in the middle for cooking – when there is anything to cook. Imagine that is where you live. Spiritually speaking, that is the old nature. When we are united in Christ’s death, that rusty shack is instantly removed, and in its place we receive a gorgeous, beautiful palace. Clean, spacious, elegant, extravagant. When we are united in Christ’s resurrection, we receive the incredible gift of a new nature that is as different from the old as that shack was from the palace.