Crucified faith!
Verse for Today: Thursday, December 27, 2012
Galatians 2:20 – 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.
It is a divine miracle that we live and at the same time we are dead. We were dead in our sins and trespasses, but God made us alive with Jesus. Once we start living in Christ, we get ourselves crucified and declared dead. This means that all our faculties die in Christ and the power of Christ live in us to exercise His will, priorities, likes and dislikes through us. When this truth becomes a reality in us, we would not be seen, but Christ will be seen in us. We will have Christ’s characteristics exemplified in all our actions and attitudes. So we live by faith just as Christ lived here on earth. We follow the perfect will of the Father as Christ did. We will have no anxiety just as Christ who lived in perfect peace of mind. We live to satisfy ourselves with the manna of the Word just as Christ did with the words which came from the mouth of God. We pray to the Father just as Christ prayed to the Father. We love all whom Christ loves, without loving the evil things they do. We possess the spirit of a servant just as Christ was the perfect servant in utter humility. We seek after the lost just as Christ came to the lost in this world. But all of these Christ-like characteristics grow in us as we abide in Christ and continuously get our fleshly desires, priorities, likes and dislikes crucified with Christ. The new life in Christ that we live daily is a life of utter and absolute faith in the power of Christ to accomplish His purpose in and through us. The world abhors the crucified life which is understood as weakness. But the crucified person lives by faith in the power and energy of Christ. The crucified person carries his cross and walks on Calvary Road in the footsteps of Christ with the desire to exemplify His character, behavior and attitudes. He enjoys the despising, mockery, resentment, rejection and isolation that the word grants him and considers it his privilege to be called a fool for the sake of Christ.
Dear reader, are you experiencing a crucified life on a daily basis with all its inconveniences, pain, misery, shame and reproach? Are you adequately surrendered to the extent to which your natural instincts are crucified and killed? Have you crucified yourself with all your desires, wants, likes, dislikes and priorities? When you thus get crucified, you will tread on the road to a spirit-filled life which will give you the Christ-like attitude and a deep desire to live by faith. You will soon realize that living by faith is costly because it leaves all the eventualities in life to God to rule and overrule. It is taking risk to follow the path of faith which doesn’t guarantee any success according to world’s standards. It means that you are willing to accept pain, tears, shame and setback that God permits in your life without grumbling. The life in Christ makes you bold to face the unknown future and be willing to accept anything that God sends you without questioning it. Apostle Paul lived such a life of faith without fixed itinerary, programs, schedules, comforts or permanency in anything. It did not guarantee a place to sleep because Christ had no place to lay His head. There was no idea when and from where the next meal would come. There was no expectation in such a life of faith except the way the Lord would lead moment by moment. It was a life full of misunderstanding and distortions which he willingly endured for Christ. Today we are challenged to take the bold walk of faith with the cross on our shoulders, enduring the shame and the reproach of Christ.
Galatians 6:14 – May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!
Thought for Today
The life on the rugged cross produces faith that walks forward holding Christ’s hands.
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