WEDNESDAY February 3, 2021
The Crucified Life
“I have been crucified with Christ…”
Galatians 2:20
This particular Scripture always ministers to me. One topic that lacks being taught in the Church today is the crucified life. It meets perfectly with what Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 16:24: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The Cross is the instrument of death––dying to self. It is very hard to die to self as we are generally self-centered––selfish. Even though we may not be able to see these flaws in ourselves, other people can.
Jesus always spoke of the crucifixion he faced. It was a time of great suffering and self-denial. Jesus was humiliated and spit on, a sack was placed over His head, and He was unable to defend Himself from man’s hateful blows. In the last moments of His life, as He hung, shredded beyond human recognition, you can see the crucified life:
…He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isaiah 53:2-3).
How many of us would willingly give ourselves to be crucified for others? I assure you, it is not something any of us would like to do, especially understanding the torturous pain. In the Gospels, you can read of those who loved Him and others who denied Him. Even those who loved Him, at times failed Him, and in fear, denied Him. When we deny Christ, we have forgotten the crucified life.
As Jesus dragged His Cross to the place of His crucifixion, what was on His mind? Jesus endured the Cross; He saw beyond the Cross. May we do the same: …looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
~William Penn~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!