Crucified With Christ

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)

Meditation

Before I was saved, I would hear Christians say they had been crucified with Christ, and I would think, ‘what a strange thought!’ Christ was crucified almost two thousand years ago, so how could they be crucified with him? They don’t have nail holes in their hands and feet. No spear has pierced their side. I wasn’t until the Holy Spirit broke through my hardened hearth that I understood. What I have now is a soul that has come alive. I have the Spirit of Christ indwelt in my heart. I was once lost but now I am found. Jesus died on the cross, taking my sins and yours with him into the grave. When I confessed, Jesus is Lord of my life, all my sins were nailed to that cross. When I came out of the waters of baptism, I was a new creation.
I no longer live the old selfish life I led before. My heart is too full of love and thankfulness to Christ, for what he did for me, to be consumed by selfishness. I was made new from the way I see myself, to the way I see everyone else. Now days, I have two categories of people. Some people are my brothers and sisters in Christ. The rest are people who I want to be my brothers and sisters in Christ. My life now is dedicated to serving the Lord in any way I can. My faith and confidence in Christ grows stronger every day. I know who saved me from the eternal punishment of hell. I know what his will is for me in this life. The only regret I have these days is that I didn’t start following Jesus sooner.
My faith is bolstered when I remember that while he was on the cross the Father placed my sins, and yours, upon his shoulders, so our sins were crucified with Christ. Just as Jesus went into the grave we symbolically do the same when we are immersed in the waters of baptism. He came up out of the grave and lives today with the Father and we come up out of baptism to a new life guided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our only responsibility is to live the rest of our natural lives by faith alone in the One who saved us. He willingly went to the cross, suffered and horrible death, shedding his blood to pay the price of our sin debt to the Father. It’s time for us to live for him!




Prayer Time


Dear Lord in heaven, we are wholly in your debt. If you hadn’t come down to earth and paid the price for our sins, we would still be the walking dead. We have crucified our old, sin filled lives on the cross and been washed clean by the blood of Jesus. We have buried the person we used to be, and we are a new creation. We thank you for giving us new hearts. It’s no longer selfishness that drives us but love for our fellow man. Because we don’t need to see Jesus to know he’s real, we now live by faith in Jesus Christ, not by sight. Our changed hearts are proof enough of his existence. Our flesh once ruled our lives, but now we washed clean in the waters of baptism, and don’t need the trappings of this world. You gave yourself up for us, so living for you in every way is the least we can do. You died on the cross, buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose again on the third day. How can we ignore your sacrifice? We dedicate our lives to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!
Location: Zephyrhills, FL, USA

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