Crucified with Christ
I'll just name a few of the most dramatic highlights of these past six months so as to quickly update you on my life... In September, God brought me and a wonderful young man named Kevin into a relationship! He is such a blessing and God has used him much to change my life and grow my relationship with Christ! Then in October, my sister Julie got married and in January, my sister Laurie got married.
Not only have things outwardly been changing, but God has been teaching me much: and now I am going to endeavor to tell you in the shortest way possible a truth that has absolutely challenged and changed me in more ways than I can say. It is found in a simple verse that many times I have glossed over and read quickly, knowing the essence of what it's saying, but not understanding fully what that has to do with me.
Are you ready?
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ, lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." -Galatians 2:20Why did I need to be crucified with Christ?
My greatest enemy is myself. If anyone gives me trouble on a daily basis, it's me. If it were somebody else, I could shoo them away... but me? Ummmm..... Well, it's obvious. I am... well, me. I can't just tell myself to leave me alone. It doesn't work that way. I'm stuck with me unless I die.
Who needs to die here? NLT puts it this way: "My old self has been crucified with Christ..." My old self is that sinful nature that is always rebelling against God. That's all it can do. I can make it look good to you but I will be honest... My sinful nature hates God. There is no desire in it to go near Him. You see, He's holy. My sinful nature is the exact opposite.
It knows that in His presence it must die. Because of that, I naturally avoid God's presence at all costs.
Everything is wrong with me. Even when I do what is right, it's wrong. My sinful nature always wants to do it's own thing and to please God in it's own way, but that doesn't work. It sometimes wants to rebel in more obvious ways, like doing things that people would all agree are wrong.
All our good deeds are like filthy rags, says Isaiah 64:6. Why? Because we do them in the strength of our flesh. Everything done in the flesh equals death and decay in God's eyes.
But God...
In His love, He sent His Son to rescue me out of my sin and rebellion. He came to rescue me from me. My selfish desires, my selfish motives, my selfish thoughts, my selfish feelings... I don't have to be controlled by them anymore! And neither do you have to be controlled by yours!
Christ made a way of escape... He took this sinful nature and crucified it with Himself on that day when He became my Savior. When I accepted Him, I accepted my death. (I received much more than that, but let's dwell on that for a moment... If you've accepted Him, you are dead too... do you realize that?)
The "Me First" World
We live in a world that is all about propping up self and making self look good. This phrase, "It's all about you," it's openly said on all public media. The fact is, you and I do naturally live as if it's all about us.
We are born looking out for number 1. We grow up protecting self, surrounding self with the best the world has to offer, making self as comfortable as possible, and when self gets introduced to God, suddenly it is more uncomfortable than it's ever been. That is why God is continuously being pushed out of our culture and out of this world... so that self can have the throne and be comfortable in it.
But when Jesus enters in, a choice has to be made. Shall He be given His rightful place as God, or do I stay god of my life?
Christians are supposed to be Christ-followers. We are commanded several times in the New Testament to have the same mindset as Him. What was His mindset? Complete dependence on the Father. Complete obedience to the Father. Further, He lived on the road to the cross. His words were never His own words, His actions were never His own actions. They were all God's words and actions. He laid down His life out of a love that came from the very throne of God -a sacrificial love that only comes from God. When He rose again, He proved that the life of Christ can never be defeated.
So Who's Life is This then?
If it's not I who live, then it's Christ who lives in me. If I'm not on the throne, then He is. The opposite is also true.... if He's not on the throne, then I am. When I take the throne, I fail to recognize the truth that I was crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is by His faith.
He gives the faith. He supplies the life for me to live. He is strength itself. He is Love itself. He is the only One who can live perfectly... He doesn't ask you to change, Christian, He asks you to "reckon yourselves dead..." (Romans 6), and to let His life flow through you.
He calls you to His resurrection power
In Philippians 3, Paul talks about wanting to suffer with Christ. Every time I read that, I cringe. Not me... But why would anyone want that? He continues, "I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I can experience the mighty power that raise Christ from the dead."
Something in that resurrection proved that there is a gift that far outweighs the death to self. It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. When we accept Christ, we not only accept our death, but we accept His life. Why aren't I perfect?
Being a follower of Christ means that I learn of Him. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:29)
That phrase implies that I have much to learn. I learn what being dead to self actually means. I learn what His life living in me actually means. I learn dependence on God's mighty power and denial of self. I learn the secret to resting in the very depths of my soul.... The only place I learn that is from Jesus. The more I know Him, the more I learn of Him.
So, child of God, get to know the One who died for you and lives within you!
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