"I have been crucified
with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in
the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for
me." - Galatians 2:20
God issued a universal call
to all men to come to Him for eternal life (John 3:16). Due to our unbelief, we are lost in our trespasses
and sins. We are condemning ourselves to eternal doom, because we refuse to
accept Jesus’ death as a ransom for the penalty of our sins (John
3:18). We cannot cross over from
spiritual death to everlasting life until we do surrender our life completely
to Christ. Jesus took our sins and received the punishment of that sin on our
behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21). In exchange, He gave us His righteousness.
When God sees the Believer
now, He no longer sees our faults, but only sees the perfection of Christ
within us (Philippians 3:8,9). Once we do accept Christ as our Savior, our
old, sinful nature is crucified with Christ on the cross (Galatians
2:20). Sometimes, we are still enticed
by the lusts of our flesh, the draw of Satan’s deceitfulness, or the temptation
of the world. Then we allow sin to war in our soul – our mind, will and
emotions - against the things of the Spirit. Thankfully, our carnal nature no
longer holds power over us, because we are set free through Christ’s redemptive
work on the Cross (Romans 8:2).
Though we still struggle with sin in the flesh, the Bible declares we have victory over both the penalty and the power of sin. As we walk in the Spirit, we will no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16, 18, Romans 7). Once we see ourselves as being crucified with Christ, we can also see ourselves as resurrected with Him. This resurrection life starts with salvation and is ours now and for all eternity (Romans 6:4-5).
As we walk in this crucified
life, our lives are a witness to the freedom of the gospel message to everyone
who knows us. We receive power to live a victorious life free from sin.
We are made alive in the peace and joy of Christ to live righteously (Romans
6:18). We are set free from sin and are
now slaves to God. Eternal life is our reward for living in holiness (Romans
6:22). We eventually come to a point
where we stop living according to the flesh, and we set our mind only on the
things of the Spirit instead.
Whoever is born of God does
not live in habitual sin, because God’s seed remains in us. Our spirit is
eternal, holy and spotless. We are no longer slaves to sin, but set free to
enjoy God’s glorious freedom (Romans 6:2).
We cannot live a sinful lifestyle, because we have been born of God through
Jesus’ death on the cross (1 John 3:9). Christ
lives in us now and His power breaks the yoke of bondage to sin in us, so that
we are continually growing closer to the point of being totally dead to sin of
any kind (Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:11).
Pledge to surrender your life to Christ, then to fill your life
with Bible reading, praying, serving and worshipping God. Attend services with
your church family. Surrender to the guidance of His Holy Spirit all day long.
The more time we spend in God’s presence, the less time Satan will have to
tempt us to sin. Salvation is something even the prophets wanted to know more about when
they prophesied about God’s gracious salvation prepared for us (1 Peter
1:10). The
reward for trusting Christ is the eternal salvation of our souls (1
Peter1:9).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for
the undeserved favors of Your mercy, the power of grace to resist sin, the
peace of a spiritual walk, the discernment to detect Satan’s wiles and the
wisdom to walk away from them. We know that to be carnally minded is death; so
we choose to be spiritually minded and to enjoy Your life and peace (Romans
8:5-6). Let our light so shine that
everyone we know will see our good works and glorify You and want to join us in
heaven.
Thought for the Day:
Live a life, which is both
dead to sin and raised to walk in the freedom of Christ.