Living a Crucified life?

Galatians 2:20-21 says, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."

What does that actually mean? To be crucified with Christ? My old self, what is "my old self" anyway? Because sometimes I still feel like my same self, with all my negative talk/thoughts/actions. So how do I crucify myself with Christ? How? How.

Jesus could have come down off the cross if He had so chose too. He easily could have called the whole thing off. A shout, heck even a whisper would have been all it would have took for legions of Angels to surround Jesus and pull Him down. Nobody forced Him to stay there, not the Romans, the heckling of the people, and no, not even the nails. After all, He held within Himself the very power of God. NOTHING could keep Him on that cross. Not one thing. Well, that's not entirely true, because in actuality it was ONLY one thing that kept Him there, LOVE.

John 3:16, a famous and yet so powerful verse, "For God so loved the World..." And that's why He stayed. He loved us. He loved me, in spite of me. He loved me before I was even a flutter in my mother's tummy. He loved me, with full knowledge that I would have days entrenched in "my old self." Regardless of me, He still loved me. Wow! The un-conditional love displayed at Calvary is the very reason that I strive to be crucified with Christ, daily. He already died the death necessary for my sins; the sacrifice has been made - all the sin, all the hurt, all the bondage, all the addiction, all the bitterness, all the anger, all the rage, all the envy, all the sickness, all the lack, ALL the stuff, it's already been crucified with Christ. When He died that brutal death on the cross, all of that stuff died with Him. The potential for our freedom was given at Calvary. But it's not until we accept Christ and choose to crucify our own selves, that we can claim that freedom for our own.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things become new."

What an interesting accompaniment that verse is to the original verse I read in Galatians. I'm seeing a theme here folks. In Christ = new life.

So if I am in Christ, and I have this new life, why oh why would I ever allow the old self to live again? Unfortunately though, we do. We let the old man creep in ever so slightly. Perhaps we get overwhelmed with the cares of this world; we carry everyone's burdens to the extent that it literally weighs so heavy on our hearts that we begin to bend under the pressure of their lives. It could be a family member, a friend, someone you are helping or ministering to. If we are not careful, we get weary. And when we get weary, we let our guard down. And the crucified life we strive to live slowly and subtly begins to fade away.

The same goes for those in a tremendous battle of life. Perhaps you face overwhelming challenges today or you are up against life altering decisions. The weight of that can become so heavy, that again, slowly and subtly, the crucified life we strive to live begins to fade away. Whatever the "stuff" is that is trying to steal your crucifixion today, don't let it. Don't even give it another second of your time. It's not worthy of your worry. No matter how extreme the situation is, it's not worthy of your worry. We have got to live this life Heaven minded, simply passing through this place. Nothing from our old self is worth sacrificing our spot in Heaven for, nothing. NOT ONE THING. Living a life that is crucified with Christ is not always easy, Jesus never said it would be. But the benefits of living that life far outweigh the other option.

I get to live a life full of peace, a life full of joy, a life full of trust. The stuff that God allows me to do in this life is so crazy exciting that sometimes I want to remind God of who I am in case He forgot and gave me someone else's life. I certainly don't deserve this one He has given me. But for whatever reason, He let's me live it. So for as long as I have breath in my lungs here on Earth, as long as there is a beat in my heart, here on this place called Earth, then I will continue to strive to live a life that is crucified with Christ. I choose to leave all the stuff that Christ took to the cross at the cross. What a deal? Man, think about the deal we get. It's crazy! We ask God to forgive us and He does. We ask God to restore us, and He does. We ask God to provide for us, and He does. We ask God to heal us, and He does.

I read something so great by Angie Smith in a book called "Mended, pieces of a life made whole," that I want to share with you. She says, "There is such a difference between religion and relationship. I could not have survived without the latter, I assure you. Because, you see, the thing about the nails in this life is that they are temporary. We choose to bear them because we know that we will lay our crowns at His feet in the blink of an eye. We will join Him for eternity, and will worship the One Who was scarred on our behalf."

This life is just a moment. So I encourage you today with this thought, a crucified life may not always be an easy life. You may sincerely have to sacrifice some difficult things to live a crucified life. You may have to put your own will and your own desires on the shelf in order to live a Godly life. But take heart in this, the very love that kept King Jesus on the cross is the very love that will literally hold you in Heaven soon and very soon. It will be worth it all. Any sacrifice you make to live that crucified life will indeed be worth it all. It it wasn't, Jesus would not have had do be crucified. But He knew something that we didn't...He knew Heaven. And He knew we needed to be there. And so we will. Amen and amen.