Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is a justly famous verse, but I think we don’t really grasp it fully. For one thing, we don’t have an emotional connection to what it means to be crucified! (Interestingly, the Japanese translation puts the “crucified” part in the previous verse. Why, I’m not sure.) The point is, we’re dead. Dead people are perfectly uninterested in the physical world. In Romans 6 Paul expounds on this, to stand firm against temptations of the flesh. The thing is, our flesh is currently manifestly not dead, so we have to be reminded of the truth in this verse with sometimes depressing frequency. Two days ago I wrote on the subject of physical death, and the better we understand both the truth in this verse and the glory of what awaits us, the more attractive death becomes! That’s not at all to say we are to be suicidal. Our lives here are a sacred gift from God, to be used in getting to know Him and doing His will, and discarding that is sacrilege. That brings us to the question of how we are then to live in the here-and-now. Paul answers that here very simply: by faith. How that is to be expressed is fleshed out in all the rest of his letters! The thing is, it all starts from this point of faith, that God created us for a purpose, that purpose is good, and He sent His Son to die for us so that we could enter that purpose. If we keep that awareness in focus, then we can indeed spend our time here dead to the flesh and alive to Christ.

I must be quick to confess that I don’t do this perfectly myself. I never said it was easy! In some ways the closer to physical death I become the easier it is to follow through with this, but there are still countless temptations to “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16) I am still quick to place myself ahead of others, or even of my Lord, in various ways, and that isn’t what God desires of me. I need to awaken each day with, “Thank You, Lord, that I’m dead to the flesh and alive in You.” That has to be a conscious choice until it’s completely automatic, and I don’t think it becomes completely automatic until after the heart stops beating! However, in this I need to walk in the assurance that God is working it out in and through me, and not think that I have to do it in my own strength. God is totally faithful, and that’s enough for me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You have done in and through me over the years, and for all You will continue to do until I’m before Your throne. I pray that I would so live that I would hardly notice the transition! Thank You. Hallelujah!