“I have been been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” What did the apostle Paul mean when he wrote those words? Let’s unpack his statement with three questions.
Who has been crucified? Your ego. The part of you that is prideful. The part of you that rebels against Jesus. The part of you that admires Jesus but thinks you don’t really need him. The part of you that thinks you can save yourself. The part of you that does not want to surrender control of your life to God. That is who has been crucified.
What do you lose when you are crucified with Christ? Not what you think. You lose your need to justify yourself. You lose your compulsion to critique others and compare yourself to them. You lose your preoccupation with keeping score. You don’t lose anything that you will miss.
What does it look like to have Christ live in you? It looks like tremendous peace. It looks like perfect calm. It looks like you have stopped fighting against yourself. When Christ lives in you, you not only experience great peace, you also experience great productivity. As Dwight Moody said, “Give your life to God. He can do more with it than you can.”
In our sermon this Sunday, we will talk about being crucified with Christ.