“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).
So often all I hear around me are personal evaluations. You know the kind. I don’t like so and so. I can’t believe people are like that. I don’t like this or that. I don’t care for this program, book or movie. I’m not satisfied with how people treat me or what I see when I look around. The weather is too hot or too cold. Listening closely I’m led to the one common denominator in all of these voices - the word I. This is used way too much today. It shouts loudly from the rafters and begs us to notice it. I hear it whispered softly in my ears when the lights are dim. This “I” in all of us demands its own way. It can be very powerful and unmerciful at times if we don’t rein it in.
I had the privilege many years ago to work with inner city kids from an impoverished area of a city. They didn’t have much by the world’s standards. If I had taken a poll, the majority would have said that they either had one parent at home, in jail, or were living with a relative or in foster care. Their clothes were not the latest, nor was hygiene a priority. Poor dental practices and non-existent manners were the norm. The problems with this group of children were numerable. The flesh in me wanted to run, but the Christ in me demanded that I stay and thrive in less than optimal circumstances. And yet in these intense situations, I found a heart that overflowed with an abundance of love and patience when I needed it, that still to this day, I have trouble fully comprehending. I can only attribute this to one thing. . . I am crucified with Christ. I’ve sat on numerous curbs of busy intersections next to ragged dirt encrusted smelly homeless men and fed them a fast food meal more times than I can count. I’ve listened as grown men have recounted lives that were thriving and then took a wrong turn. Often times it was only one bad decision that left their lives spiraling out of control. When I looked closely into their eyes, beyond the outer shell, past the smell, I found a love permeating and flowing from Jesus Christ . . . because I am crucified with Christ. The human side of me is just not capable of loving ill-mannered children and smelly homeless men. There is just not enough good in me to see past someone’s pride and self-indignation that they carry around like a badge of honor. My mind and eyes are often transfixed on the outer man, the words they choose to speak, the unconquered habits and questionable clothing they wear. This condemning side of me does not produce an abundance of love or patience or even aspires to behold these things. My flesh seeks only to satisfy self, myself, the part that says that “I” am most important at all times. I’ve found that when I place these and other unattainable conditions on myself and others that I am indeed setting myself up for a life that is far from being crucified with Christ. It’s only when I am able to say I no longer live, it no longer matters to me about anything around me, whether I am in want or have an abundance, whether I am liked or loved, accepted or rejected, comfortable or not, when I can give up the need in me to have my own way and instead focus only on Christ’s plan and what he desires to accomplish in me and through me, then and only then can I know that I am truly living a crucified life with Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).