I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
-Galatians 2:20 (King James Version)
So far this week, we've talked about what it means to be crucified with Christ, and we talked about Jesus living in us. Today, I'd like to finish up our study of this verse by looking at the rest of verse 20, "and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
I think that many people would agree with this statement, "It would be easier if, when accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior, if God would just take me to Heaven, instantly." Living the Christian life was never promised to be easy. It's not, but we can take heart to something Paul says in this verse. "and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." We must continue life after we've given our lives to Jesus. We continue going to work, we continue waking up, we continue making choices, we continue continuing. It's how we live that changes. If we crucify our old sinful lusts and desires, we'll start fulfilling what God has called us to do. Instead of hate, we show love. Instead of jealousy, we are happy for others. You get the picture? We live by faith, and the life we live is lived by faith in Jesus, by hope in Jesus.
So, while we're still struggling with the temptations and trials of life, we can take heart, we've overcame those trials and temptations when we crucified our own evil desires on the cross. We now have Jesus living inside us, and this life we continue to live is lived by our faith in Jesus. But wait, there is one more thing. We live life by faith in Jesus-who loved me and gave Himself for me. Did you ever stop and think about that? Jesus, the Son of God, loved you, loved me, and gave all He had for you and me. Are we willing to give all we have for Him? Think About It.
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