Text: 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.

Once again we are confronted with the simplicity of the formula for successful Christian living. SO many of the problems in the church and the problems each believer is faced with every day can be overcome by an embrace of this reality. It permeates so much of Paul’s writings and is a testimony to the ministry success of this man who wrote most of the New Testament. I always tell new believers that they can grow spiritually much faster than a lot of even the pastors and church leaders they see around them if they embrace this reality.
Paul’s simple statement in the beginning of the verse says tons about his perception of his life, “I have been crucified with Christ.” It answers any question of entitlement we feel we have as believers. It ends any argument about how we prioritize things in our lives. My last devotional was from Philipians 3:10. The idea is the same and it is an idea that as believers we cannot hear enough of or work to embrace in our own lives. Crucifying the flesh daily, crucifying our desires daily, crucifying our sense of entitlement to anything is the key to walking in victory and in unity with Christ. He then says, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…” That’s simply speaks of the constant death of his desires, his sense of individuality for the purpose of making Jesus the priority. Paul here is speaking of a desire to live a life that reflects Christ’s character more than his own. We as humans are so prone to promote our own individuality and character and then if we are Christians we try to have something in there that identifies us as such, but always as secondary to our own sense of identity in who WE are. Paul knew that he needed to let go of this.
He speaks of living a life focused on the unseen. When he says “The life I live in he body, I live by faith in the son of God…” He is speaking of a totally spiritual focus. In II Corinthians 5:7 it says, “We live by faith, not by sight.” This isn’t like a switch that we turn on and off. Today I’m going to live by faith and that’s that. It’s a constant, moment by moment pursuit to let go of the natural motives for all that we do, self promotion, fulfillment of our desires and instead fully embracing God’s truth that is outlined in His word and letting His truth dictate our day to day decisions regardless of the results, consequences or responses we receive from others. Let us pursue a life of walking crucified with Christ! In that place is where we will find victory and contentment and fullness of what He has for our lives!

How to pray this scripture:

Father in heave, I want to be crucified with you. I want to crucify my desires. I no longer want to live for myself but for Christ who lives in me. I want to live this life by faith in your word and in pursuit of who you are. I want to experience the love of the Son of God every day, the one who gave himself for me. Thank you for dying for me, Jesus. May I never forget or take for granted the reality of the cross. Amen

Additional Scriptures:

Matthew 6:6
Matthew 6:18
Romans 6:6
I Corinthians 2:2
II Corinthians 4:18
II Corinthians 5:7
Galatians 5:24

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