Crucified with Christ

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
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
The Bible says we are a three part being. We are a spirit, soul and body. When we are born again, we are given the spirit of God. Our soul is our mind, will and emotions. Our soul must be transformed. It is transformed by the Word of God. We must relearn how to think. As we submerge ourselves in the Word of God it changes us. Our eyes begin to be opened and we begin to see things from God’s perspective. Before salvation, God’s ways were beyond us. We had no comprehension of His ways. As we learn His Word it begins to change us. We are changed to the degree we accept His Word as truth and begin to apply it to our lives. We begin to be transformed by His truth.
God designed us this way as three part beings and His purpose for us is for our Spirit man to be king, our soul to be a servant and our body to be a slave. We start out really weak spiritually. We are born again and we are instantly filled with His joy! It feels so good to have our sins forgiven, but we have little knowledge and we have spent years and decades developing certain ways that are contrary to God. We must feed our spirit man so he can grow and become king. We must transform our soul man so he can learn to become servant to the spirit man. We must crucify our flesh so our flesh man becomes slave to our spirit man.
In the verses above Paul says, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He no longer lives according to His old ways. He no longer lives based on the culture. He has died to that and his boast is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “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.” Let us make Paul’s conviction our own. I no longer live for myself. I live for Christ. I am dying to the world and its system and its culture. My boast is in the cross of Christ! I am dying so I might truly live!
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty