01/16/18 BORN AGAIN, TO DIE
(short excerpt from next post on stepping into the will of God)
Galatians 2:20
20 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.
Being crucified with Christ is...
Death to self (Ga. 2:20),
Death to sin (Ro. 6:6),
Death to the sin nature, the flesh (Ga. 5:24),
Death to the world and the world to us (Ga. 6:14).
But remember, though we are called to be crucified with Christ, we are not called to live the supposed "Crucified Life."
Crucifixion is not a life, it is a death. It is a painful, humiliating death. It is hard to die to self, to sin, to the sin nature (the flesh and its affection), to the world system and have the world system die to you. But it is a death to the things that bring death to you. For once you are dead to those things, you can be completely alive to God.
Just as Christ was born to die (for us), we are Born Again so that we might die with Him.
Having been crucified with Christ we are dead to...
the world,
the flesh,
sin,
self,
so that we can live the abundant life.
Remember, Jesus said that in order for a grain to produce, it must die.
Having been crucified with Christ I don't live on a cross.
I died on the cross with Him and I was buried to rise and,
to walk in newness of life,
to walk in the Spirit,
to walk in the light,
to walk in love,
to walk in truth,
to walk in joy,
to walk in peace,
to walk honestly,
to walk by faith,
to walk wisely,
to walk in obedience to God,
to walk worthy of our calling,
to walk as He walked,
to walk in a way that pleases God.
