“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).
What is the ‘crucified’ life?
Crucify means to destroy the power of – crucify the flesh. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
A. W. Tozer describes the “crucified life” as “a life wholly given over to the Lord in absolute humility and obedience: a sacrifice pleasing to the Lord.” In Romans 6:6-7 Paul said: “our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.“ We have been set free from sin. Our old identity has been deprived of its power. The stronghold of sin has been dismantled.
“Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.” ― Henry Van Dyke
A crucified life is a quality of life that is far above anything that is natural. A. W. Tozer said: “the crucified life was to press forward—regardless of the difficulties and in spite of the cost to the state of spiritual perfection.” To keep pressing into the deep things of God. Apostle Paul knew this all to well when he said in Philippians 3:14: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Living the crucified life is not easy, but not impossible. It will be the most challenging thing you will ever face. Living the crucified life requires denying self and picking up your cross to follow Him (Luke 9:23).
We formerly gratified the lusts of our flesh, indulging in its desires. and were deserving of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3). The flesh is our sinful nature. The deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21)
Those who belong to Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:4). Christians who are serious about the “crucified life” learns to let go of our selfish, sinful lives to become the new creation Jesus Christ meant for us to be.
Dying to self to live for Christ is a blessing in disguise. The life in the flesh cannot compare to the life we have been promised in Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)
Blessings,
Dr. Francine
BEYOND CHURCH WALLS 