Verse of the Day 4/4

 

Galatians 2:20   My old self has been crucified with Christ.^[a] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   New Living Translation (NLT)

 

Having just come through Good Friday and Easter, the images of the cross, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus should still be fresh in our minds, (not that we should ever be able to forget those images).  The NLT translation of this verse states that "my old self" has been crucified with Christ.  It speaks of the old versus the new, of a change taking place.  This change is not subtle it is of stark contrast.

 

I've been reading a devotional commentary on Galatians by John Fenton.  Today's devotional was on this passage, he writes, "Jesus had died by the Roman method of executing slaves - crucifixion.  God had raised Him to life.  Paul, like other New Testament writers, does not say of Jesus, 'He lived and died', but always 'He died and lives'.  The life of Jesus followed His death and began on the day of His resurrection.  In the same way Paul's life (in the real sense) began after his conversion, which was like the crucifixion and the resurrection.  The old came to an end and the new began."

 

Can we look back and see such a turning point in our lives where the "old came to an end and the new began"?  It may have resulted from an event, a moment of change in your life that gave you a new lease on life.  That new life is His living in you.

 

I serve a risen Savior
  He's in the world today.
I know that He is living,
  Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
  I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him
  He's always near.

 

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
    He lives within my heart.

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Galatians 2:19-21

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness^[a] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.