FWD: Morning Manna (Jan. 3); BP: Gal. 2:11-21; RBTTY: Mt. 3; Gen. 7-9

 
Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 16:51:54 -0600
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Jan. 3); BP: Gal. 2:11-21; RBTTY: Mt. 3; Gen. 7-9
 
January 3                                                                                      "Crucified With Christ"
 
"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live—yet, not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life, which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me."
                                                                                                                                          Galatians 2:20
      It is the death of Self and the deifying of the Savior.
      "Crucified with Christ."
     Those words meant a lot more back in the days when the Apostle Paul wrote them than they do today—for execution by crucifixion is foreign to us. We’re more in tune with death by lethal injection, the electric chair or gas chamber. But, death by being nailed to a cross is something we only know about through Biblical commentaries and other historical documents.
 
     Perhaps that’s why we have difficulty understanding today’s Manna. Or, could it be our difficulty rests more in our resistance to its implications than in our unfamiliarity with it? Simply put, are we more repulsed by the idea of losing control than we are the hideousness of crucifixion itself?
 
      "Preacher, you’ve done gone to meddlin’," someone says.
     But, if we listen, we might hear another Voice whispering, "Preach on, Brother."
     Hmm. . .decisions, decisions. Which one/One will we listen to?
 
     We know we can’t turn back the clock almost 2,000 years ago and crawl up on the Cross with Jesus. Thus, it’s clear Paul’s word are figurative, not literal—an "eternal euphemism," if you will. Theologically, we know the former Pharisee-turned-evangelist means "substitutionary atonement"—i.e., that Christ died in our place and His death on the Cross "frees us from the curse of the Law" (Gal. 3:10, 13).
 
     However, experientially and practically, being "crucified with Christ" is a daily "dying to Self" and being made "alive to Christ." Or, another way to say it is, "It’s all about who’s going to be on the throne of our hearts." As someone once said, "We’re all born with an ‘I’ problem," which nowadays is translated, "It’s all about Me" or "I did it my way."
 
     A condemned criminal nailed to a cross had no rights and he certainly had no freedom. Three nails held him there. . .against his will. . .and ultimately helped bring about his demise. But, when we’re "crucified with Christ," we’re willingly bound to Him by the "threefold cord of love, which is not easily broken" (Eccl. 4:12)—one for the Father, one for the Son and one for the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!!
 
     Although, technically, we’re still free to do as we please, via the new birth the Father changes our "want to" and our #1 desire is to please Him by Whose Name we’re called. And, how sweet to know it’s by "His faith (not ours) that we now live" and are able to face whatever comes our way today. May we so love Him today that others will more readily see Him, not us, in what we say and do.
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