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]
the old man in me is dead. what a scandalous miracle. the man (or woman) who was blind to sin, dead in heart, rebellious toward God, desiring to be the god of my life, deserving eternal separation from the Holy One, has been hung with Christ on the cross. Christ raised from the dead, having power over death, leaving my old man in the tomb, never again to have power over me! now the new life I have is my risen Savior living in me.
so why do i still struggle with sin? because, i still have a fallen flesh tied to my living spirit. even paul, an all time hero of the faith, said, “wretched man that i am! who will deliver me from this body of death?” romans 7:24. we fight sin in our flesh daily, and as long as we’re here on this earth, we won’t be free from our fleshly desires. so how do we reconcile these two lives within us? we’re alive in the Spirit, because we’ve been given life, but our bodies are obviously still at work, moving around, functioning, often times getting us into trouble. the answer is in paul’s next sentence. “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vs 25) while we still have flesh, we cling to Christ. while we still have flesh, we have to daily give our flesh over in faith to the mercy and grace of Christ our Savior. we trust that our sins are covered, and the joy that follows is what propels us forward to live for him.
what mercy and grace and power and glory pour from this verse. it shows my utter dependence upon Christ for spiritual salvation. but it also shows my utter dependence upon Christ for my bodily salvation. i have no power to obtain these on my own. it’s all him.
today, let’s assume a humble position before the presence of God. in a quiet place, on our knees, on our face, head bowed, whatever it looks like for you, let’s verbalize our utter dependence on the Lord. let’s thank him for the miracle of bringing us life through the death of our old self in the blood of his Son. let’s confess our lack of faith in Christ to completely cover our sin, and ask him to help our unbelief. let’s confess our sin, and let’s ask for Christ to shine through our flesh for the world to see only the new man we are in him, to the praise of his glorious grace.
~ arwen eastman