“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
When we gave our life to Christ at new birth we have accepted the death of Christ as a substitutional death in our stead. Jesus Christ bore the punishment for sin which was meant for us. He took the pain and sorrow we were expected to have. All the suffering reserved as punishment for sin was borne by him. He took the shame and all the humiliation associated with sin which was reserved for the soul that committed sin. Ezekiel 18:4(KJV) says “Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die”. This establishes the fact that through sin we inherited death. Living a crucified is been dead to sin. It is the putting off of the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and putting on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It is living a life that is enabled by the Holy Spirit as a result of the redemption that was wrought at the cross. It is the mortification of the flesh and setting our affection on the things above and our life hid in Christ. Romans 6:6(KJV) clearly put it “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”. It is on this premise that Paul was praying in Philippians 3:10(KJV) “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death”. Living a crucified life is denying all earthly attractions to live by the faith of the son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. A crucified life is living a Spirit filled life that is pleasing to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is living for Christ with all our earthly members duly mortified. It is been dead and resurrected with Christ. It is living as an epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. This is the life expected of a worthy ambassadors of Christ.Can this be said of you?
Prayer: Father satisfy my heart cry and desire to be like Christ in Jesus name.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo