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.    Galatians 2:20 ESV

Are you pretending to be a Christian? I am not saying this to offend anyone, but for many years I pretended to be a Christian. Oh, I thought I was doing a good job of it. But God finally showed me what I was doing wrong and that was just about everything. You see I wanted all the benefits that come along with being a follower of Christ, but I wasn’t willing to pay the price. Salvation is a free gift that God has given us, we need only to accept it. But once we accept it, if we don’t kill off our old selves, we can never be free from the bondage of sin. Our Scripture passage says I have been crucified with Christ and today we need to figure out whether we can say that truthfully.

When we say we are Christians, it means that we are followers of Christ. It means that we believe in Him and want to live a life of obedience to Him. In order to do so, we must crucify our flesh or rid ourselves of ourselves. Paul is not saying that he was actually crucified with Christ. We know from the historical accounts of the crucifixion found in the Bible that there were only two men crucified with Christ. What Paul is referring to here is the death of our former sinful lives. We must put away the sin that we once intentionally committed. We must humbly submit ourselves to Christ. We must trust in Him and be obedient to His commands. John 3:30 says He must increase, but I must decrease. It is no longer all about me it is all about Him. Galatians 5:24 says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. When it’s all about Him, He is what we desire. We long to please Him. We long to spend time in His awesome presence. We long to obey His commands and bring Him glory and honor and praise in the things we do. We long to share with others the joy we have found in Him. We long to worship and praise Him in His house and to spend time with other Christians studying His word.

For many years, I pretended to be a Christian. I even went to church a few times a month and warmed a pew. I didn’t get involved in church. I was just there because I felt obligated to go. But all that changed when I died to myself. When I gave myself over to Christ, I wanted to be in church every time the doors were open. I understood why my mom had me in church as a child on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I was craving more of His word. I wanted to study His word and understand the Bible, His beautiful love letter to us. I wanted to spend more time in fellowship with those who felt the same way. And more than anything I wanted the safety and security that come from living in Him. Psalm 91:1 tells us that if we choose to live under His protection that we will abide in His shadow. There would be trials to come, but now that I was no longer pretending, I walked through with Him. I walked through them in faith knowing that as long as I was steadfast and faithful that He would be faithful to me. He has never let me down.

I spent so many years of my life pretending to be a Christian. Outwardly, I would profess my belief in Him, but inwardly I was stubbornly trying to hold on to the old me. I was trying to keep certain sins that I had grown comfortable with in my life. Often times we pretend because the truth is too harsh. But I can assure you, the reality of living a life in Christ is the best thing you will ever experience.

If you have been pretending to be a Christian, let it go. Give it all over to Him. Let your old self die with all the sin and disbelief that it has. Become a new creature in Christ. Stop pretending. Love Him with all you have and let Him have His way in your life. You will be so glad you did.

Have a great weekend!