I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.  Galatians 2:20 NASB

If you are reading this, you probably consider yourself a Christian and you probably celebrated Easter. You might have even watched a movie that graphically portrayed Jesus’ horrible torture and suffering on the cross. Maybe you even felt a bit of remorse for the times that you have not honored Him with your life. But, the question today is have you been crucified with Christ?

God doesn’t ask us to actually be nailed to a cross and suffer the torment that Jesus went through, but He does ask that we let go of our old self and allow it to die. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. 1 Peter 2:24 says that He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

There is a belief that once we are saved, we are always saved. In John 10:28, Jesus says he gives us eternal life and we will never perish and no one will snatch us out of His hand. This means that we can’t lose our salvation. But, my pastor asks a simple question, what were you saved from? He asks this question when he sees someone who claims to be saved but doesn’t show any real changes. This could be evidence of a false convert.

You see, Jesus couldn’t sort of be crucified and save us from our sins. He had to be all in. But, a lot of us like to give God a little bit. We like to give God our leftover time and attention and even our left over money. We don’t crucify our old selves because we just don’t want to give all that up. We want to go to heaven, but that whole being crucified with Christ thing is a bit much. I know this from personal experience. I claimed to be saved, but there were many sinful things in my life that I had not been saved from. I held on to those things. I didn’t want to give them up. But that wasn’t working so well for me. I had to let it go. I couldn’t take it any more. Being chained to my sin was weighing me down.

I cried out to God and He answered me. He called me to Him. He called me to surrender it all to Him. He tossed it up and shook it out and it all fell into place. I allowed the old sinful me to die. I let it die on that cross. You see I didn’t have to be nailed to that cross. Jesus did that for me. But, I did have to give all my sin over to Him. I had to be raised up as a new creation in Him. I’m not perfect, I still sin, but God lets me know when I do. I am convicted, I repent and I am forgiven. I no longer carry it around like a ball and chain.

I had to deny myself. Luke 9:23 says that if anyone wants to follow Christ, he has to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Jesus. Galatians 5:24 says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Mark 8:35 says that whoever would save his life will lose it and whoever will lose his life for the sake of Christ and the gospel will save it. Matthew 10:38 says that whoever does not take his cross and follow Christ is not worthy of Christ.

So, I want you to really think about this. Do you deny yourself or are you still hanging on to worldly desires of the flesh? Are you willing to crucify your old self on the cross with Christ? Are you willing to pick up your cross and follow Him?

The cross won’t wear you down, but your sin will. It will make your weary.  But Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 if we are weary, we can come beside Him and yoke up with Him. He will help us carry our burdens. He tells us we will find rest for our souls. He tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Being crucified sounds painful I know. If you are like me and had a lot of sin to rid yourself of, it is, but just for a little while. Paul said in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Bring your old sinful self to the cross and crucify it so that you can become a new creation in Christ before it’s too late.

Have a great day!