“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”(Galatians 2:20). This was the apostle Paul’s resolve. In it we can clearly see his unreserved commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ “who loved me and gave himself for me.” Would to God, as Christians, we all had this text as a genuine personal witness and testimony to what Jesus Christ means to us.
“Christ . . . lives in me,” says Paul, who also asked the Corinthian Christians, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” And then he continues, “Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). This is of great importance for us today and must not be taken lightly. Without Christ living in the believer, our lives would be most meaningless and hopeless. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
In accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we do so on the basis of what He has done for us through His shed blood and death on the Cross. We read, “and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). The Christian life is actually the outliving of the iinliving Jesus Christ. It cannot be any other way. As the Scripture declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Christian life is a life of “faith in the Son of God.” And it means to “walk by the Spirit , and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). “Walk by the Spirit” means to live by the Spirit of God and being obedient to His word. Before knowing Christ as our Savior, we were “dead in the trespasses and sins” But what happens now? A tremendous change has resulted. As it is written, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Romans 6:11,12). Note carefully the transformation that takes place. Once dead IN sins, but now dead TO sin.
Christians are people “alive and well,” because Jesus Christ lives in us. And we want the world to know that things have changed and we are no longer who we were in the past but rather, who we are now and will be in the future. Like the hymn composer wrote, “Things are different now / Something happened to me / When I gave my heart to Jesus. Things I loved before have passed away / Things I love far more have come to stay” (Stanton W Gavitt, 1911-1985).
Christianity means having a lifestyle that is far different to that of the world’s system and standards—not allowing the world to squeeze us into its mold. It may mean “creating enemies” where there were once mutual friendships. But so be it. We are much better off than before. Paul stated, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain” The Lord Jesus has this counsel for us. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18,19).
It is certainly God’s intent that we should be saved and remain in the world. In His high priestly intercessory prayer to His Father, the Lord said, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16). The emphasis is that Christians are “not of the world” since Jesus who our Savior is not of the world.
Admittedly, living the Christian life is not easy since there are so many challenges in the world. But we must remember that we are not left alone. Our body is “a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). So, we cannot escape the presence of God in our lives. Wherever we go God is with us as He just as He promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5,6). Unlike mortal man, God keeps His word and we can confidently claim His promises. King David admitted to God, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5).
Crucified with Christ is greatest joy on earth for the believer and gives us a glorious hope. As Paul points out, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we could no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:5,6). The death that Christ died, he died to sin once and the life that he now lives, he lives to God. There no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. For Christ “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). We praise you, Lord Jesus, in depths of deepest joy. Amen.