Thursday, March 13, 2008

Verse for the day

Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Reflection:

The verb for crucified is sustauroo in the Greek and is in the perfect tense, passive voice and indicative mood. Therefore this means something that is a reality, it happened at a point in time in my life and has continuing results. Again because of the passive voice of the verb it indicates this is something that has been done to me.

There is a supernatural work that has happened to me, the "old" me or "former" me is now dead and a "new" me nows lives, which is Christ in me. I am not attracted to or passionately following the things that the "former" me once did and lived to do. Because of this spiritual surgery from above, my heart of stone has now been replaced with a heart of flesh that beats for the Lord Jesus Christ. And the evidence is manifested by my faithful behavior, in that I now rest, depend and rely on Christ to satisfy me. Even though my life has not achieved perfection I can sense and see a totally new direction.
How wonderful to know that this radical change came about as an expression of the love of Christ as He willingly went to the cross for the payment in full of my sins. Thank you Lord Jesus!