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. (Gal.3:20)

 Two important events took place in people’s lives when Christ died and was resurrected.

 First, we were given an escape from the prison walls of sin. Christ tore that barrier to God down by giving his own life on the cross. Without the cross of Christ, we would still be bound by our sin, slaves to the evil one. Christ destroyed Satan on that glorious day some 2000-plus years ago. Magnificent because it was God’s plan from the beginning. Glorious because our Savior, Jesus, emptied himself for all of us. When we have no way out, when the path has been blinded by the darkness of sin, when the walls seem to close around us, there is the light of the cross, ever-present, our safety beacon.

 Second, as Christians, we should live as having been crucified with Christ!  It should have been us, not Jesus hanging on the cross; he became our substitute.

1Jn.2:1b&2 “…And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The apostle Paul makes it clear in his letter to the Galatians: “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.”  (Gal.2:20)

John 6:48 is very simple, straight to the point, an absolute promise that we can take hold of: “I am the bread of life.” (Joh.6:48) Earlier in the same chapter (vs.35), Jesus made the precursor statement to the one above: Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (Joh.6:35)

What a marvelous promise we have that when we have been crucified with Christ, we are partakers in life-giving bread, that our hunger will be filled, and that our thirst will be quenched. With all assurance, we can shout to the heavens, “I live by faith in the Son of God because he was crucified for me!”

Our life with the Savior needs to be far more than a simple jester of faith on Sundays. We must put on Christ: Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”

 We pray that as we grow together, we will be more Christ-like. We understand that the church is a hospital of sin-sick individuals and that we are all there to support, care for, cry with, and in the end, rejoice with! “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies, at last, I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.” Rev.2:10b. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”