No Longer I

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

We live in a nation that places a high importance on appearance and shape.  We see evidence of this fact in our lives every day.  People in advertisements and magazines seem to always be those people who have a beautiful appearance and are in the best shape.  It is hard to flip through the T.V. channels and not see a commercial for a diet pill that promises weight loss, or a workout machine that will help you get in great shape.  We see countless examples of before and after pictures to prove these results.  After using these products, people who were previously out of shape and unattractive, become a whole new person, fit and good looking.  Galatians 2:20 speaks of a different kind of shape, a different kind of before and after picture.  The text speaks of the shaping power of Christ living in us.

Through our Baptisms, Christ now lives in us.  We possess the righteousness of Christ before God.  Through our Baptisms, our old self is crucified with Christ, and a new self is resurrected.  This fact is shown in Romans 8:10-11, which says, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Because Christ died and rose from the dead for our sins, and lives in us, we live our lives in a different way.  We see a different before and after picture.  We now live our lives by faith.  This faith is not from any merit or work on our parts.  This faith is given to us by God.  What a difference this makes in our lives, what an amazing before and after picture!  Christ now lives in us! 

In Baptism we are made new people in Christ.  We are free from the bondage of sin and the Law.  Does this mean that we are free to go about sinning as much as we want?  Surely not!  God forbids this.  Christ lives in us and because of that we are free to follow after that which is keeping with His will.  Of course we all still sin and fall short of God’s will.  But by the grace of God we realize that we are not condemned before God.  We live as people who are free, and not under the condemnation that the Law brings.  Our response to this grace in the way we live our lives as Christians shows that we live free from the Law.

Christ living in us truly shapes our lives.  Our old selves were crucified with Christ and a new self was resurrected with him.  So the next time you’re flipping through the channels and you see another commercial promising an amazing physical change, remember the before and after picture that Paul tells us in Galatians, and how we are made new through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.