About
how we no longer have the old life…
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. (NIV)
It
is a radical statement to say you are no longer alive when you are obviously
living. It is a radical statement to say you are dead when everyone would say
you are alive in your body. It is a radical statement, a statement few would
understand, to say you no longer have a life, although people say they "no
longer have a life" in our common everyday speech. In this verse, Paul is
talking about being dead in his old sinful life. Indeed, when we accept Christ
and receive His cleansing love, we are not the same. Our old problems may exist,
but we have a new life to handle those old problems. Indeed, after we accept
Christ we are no longer the same person we were before we found Christ and we
accepted Him into our heart. After you have accepted Christ, the old person you were
died with Christ on the cross. How can this be? Worldly logic is strained here.
However, worldly logic falls away in the power of our faith. The sinful person
you were was taken to the cross and lived in the heart of Christ on the cross.
Christ went to the cross and died for you with your sinful life in His heart.
Christ died for you in the most personal way possible by carrying your sin while
He was tortured and murdered…all for you. So personal was His sacrifice, so
deep was His love for you, He took your darkened and sinful life and paid for
your sinful life with His life. He paid for your sinful life by giving His life
in exchange for your life. Christ did all this so you could live with Him in
heaven or reject Him and live in eternal torment forever. If you accept Him,
whatever life you had before is gone. After you accept Him, all things are
new…even you.
