It Is No Longer I Who Live

If you’re a Christian, you’re dead. Or at least you’re supposed to be. The apostle Paul said so.

In Galatians 2:20, he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” As much as in us is, God’s people are to be living, walking manifestation of our Savior Jesus Christ. He owns us. He bought us: “For you were bought at a price” (I Cor. 6:19), “therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” And as a result, we are “a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Pet. 2:9). “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy” (I Pet. 1:16). Why? “For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

Self-denial is probably the most difficult thing for a human being to do. Even the Greek philosopher Plato said that the greatest victory a man could have is to conquer himself. We have desires, wants, needs, not all of which, of course, are bad. But even the “good” must be sacrificed for the “best”—service to the Lord: “If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:26). Jesus doesn’t mean that we are to literally hate our nearest and dearest; He is simply saying than we can have no higher allegiance than to Him—even father, mother, wife, children, our own life. Nothing can be more precious to us than He.

Why? Well, again, He bought us. As Paul wrote, we died with Him on that cross. And thus, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. We do what He wants, not what we might want. Every minute of every day we must be conscious of how the Lord wants us to live—where we go, what we do, what we say—it’s not our will which we live by any more, it’s His. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service” (Rom. 12:1). That’s just the price of this religion, folks, and if we aren’t willing to pay it, then we have no business claiming to be His children. You don’t live any more! At least, not for yourself. The greatest harm done to Christianity is not by atheists and skeptics; it’s done by so-called Christians, who claim to be followers of the Lord, but live like the devil. Or, aren’t willing to conform to His dictates in all matters. We are to bring ”every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5). And that means every step we take is done to follow and please Him.

Why? Because “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Christianity contains perhaps the greatest paradox in existence: the high cost of a free gift. It’s costs us nothing, because of what Jesus did on the cross; He paid a price we couldn’t pay, so He did it for free, simply because He loved us. But yet, to obtain that free gift it’s going to cost everything we’ve got. "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Lk. 14:33). Very, very few people, even those who claim Him as Lord, are willing to make the outlay. Death to self, and everything else, is just too high a price to pay. But that’s what it costs to be a Christian.

Christianity is worth it. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44). It cost that man “all that he [had]” to obtain that field. But he did it “for joy,” because he knew that what he got was far, far greater in value than what he had to pay to get it. Turning loose of the world and trusting the Lord completely is a difficult thing to do. Self-denial is usually not “fun,” it doesn’t please us, and we currently live in a pleasure-oriented, hedonistic society that bombards us daily with the falsehood that true happiness is found in sin, debauchery, and worldly junk. The question is: who are we going to believe? God or the world? Where, truly, is our faith?

Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” That’s why he proved to be one of the greatest men who ever walked the face of this earth. And that’s why he is in heaven right now. Gentle reader, can you say what he said?