Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Jesus Is Our Friend
To be crucified with Jesus Christ is not a once-and-for-all experience; life goes on! Thus, as believers we identify with Christ’s death as if we were crucified with him in order to live a new life of faith.
When Jesus died on the cross, all people died. When Jesus Christ died, I died. I experienced the doom of sin; sin left me walking the thorny ground of hell only to be deliver in the death I died with Jesus on the cross.
Jesus died for me, he died in my place, he died on my behalf; and because of his death, I shall be spared that death.
My life in the flesh is now governed by faith in Jesus Christ; who loves me, and died for me. The love of Christ controls me because, having been crucified with Christ, his Spirit now lives in me.
Though the Spirit lives in me, I continue to live in the flesh. Yet while I live in the body and in the natural world; I no longer live to please the flesh, I live in harmony with the Spirit of God who dwells in me.
Romans 8:8-9 says, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”
To live in harmony with God’s Spirit, is to allow God to be the center of our lives. In doing so, we become a living manifestation of God’s supreme love. The quality of our love is derived from the fact that Christ’s death was not his own; it was mine, it was ours.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the gospel; may the gospel of Jesus Christ forever and always feed our hungry souls. Father, there is no greater joy than the joy of praising your holy name. Glory, glory, glory to your name. Give us your love, grace and mercy to reign among us all the days of our lives. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Amen
