Friday, June 15, 2012

The Greatest News EVER!


Paul says in Galatians 2:19:
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”
Now, how is it that I am dead to the law and how do I live unto God?
Paul explains the whole Gospel in one verse:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
Other versions say, “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ...”  When Jesus died over 2,000 years ago we died 
with Him. All of our sins died with Him. Our old Adam was put to death
with all of its rebellion and independence. Oh, yes, we still have our 
fleshly desires and fleshly ways of trying to get life, but we live out of a 
new identity--that of saint, not sinner.
Paul called the Corinthians, “Holy Ones” which is what saint means.
I am no longer a sinner, but a saint who sometimes sins. This is huge! 
The Corinthians were a mess as far as their behavior was concerned 
but their identity, nevertheless was saint. 
Dear reader, if you can grasp this it becomes the first step toward living
the life you have been given. As long as I believed that I was nothing
more than a sinner with a hard heart, I made no progress in the 
Christian life. If I did well, I was proud; if I failed I was miserable.
When it began to dawn on me that I was crucified with Christ in the
past, that He took all of my sin and gave me His righteousness, my
heart began to sing. Yes, I do fail, but now I quickly confess my
failure to draw on His power, the power of the One who lives inside
of me. He loves it when I exchange my weakness for His strength.
My greatest prayer is: “Help!”
Oh, that you might grasp the magnitude of His love and passion for you!

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