I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
All who are in Christ are new creations, meaning we die to flesh and we live for Him. We have experienced a new birth and we are called to manifest Jesus to a needy world through His power and for His glory. The old has gone and the new has come. Scripture tells us in all four Gospels that those who come to Jesus are to deny self and take up their cross and follow Him. It is in losing our lives that we save them. We are to be entirely new creations. He never meant for us to stay the same. Indeed, God desires for us to be conforming into the image of His Son, through His power and for His glory. He was to be the Firstborn among many brothers. Death to self and life through Him is to be our path. He came to give us life and life to the full. The old has gone and the new has come.
We do not change in our own flesh. Indeed, we are incapable of walking as our Lord walked in our own power. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling every true believer in Christ that we are enabled to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Jesus – to walk as He walked and talk as He talked. We are to manifest - through His power – in ever-increasing measure - the Fruit of the Spirit – Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Against such things there is no law. This will bring the “aroma of Christ” into our circumstances rather than the stench of death. God provides everything we need to walk in a manner worthy of our Lord Jesus, and the One that gives the power, gets the glory, Amen?
All too often we see too many “run of the mill” Christians, as Amy Carmichael once called them. Elisabeth Elliot wrote of Amy’s words: “Amy Carmichael felt that the world had far too many run-of-the-mill Christians, cool, respectable, satisfied with the usual, the mediocre. Why bother to lay down one’s life to multiply the number of those?” Why indeed? God never intended for His sons and daughters to settle for the mediocre. He has great plans for each life – plans to prosper and not harm, plans to give hope and a future. His desire is for us to do our best through His power as Paul writes to his beloved Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV): “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV)