Scripture: "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me."—GAL. ii. 20.
In these words St. Paul expresses three great thoughts: Firstly, "I am crucified with Christ." When Christ died on the cross He identified all God's people with Himself in that death. As we all died in Adam, and have inherited Adam's sinful nature, so we all have been crucified with Christ, and the power of His death works in us daily, that having died to sin in Christ we may live unto God. Our union with the crucified Christ is vital and complete. The power of His death and of His life is active in us.
St. Paul's second thought is, "I live, and yet no longer I." Having actually participated in the death of Christ he could say: "No longer do I live." My life has been yielded to death upon the Cross of Christ. By faith I see my life under sentence of death cancelled. It is still mine, in my flesh wherein no good thing dwells, but I am free in Christ, so that I no longer serve sin, as long as I abide in Christ.
His third thought, "Christ liveth in me," is the true secret of a Christlike life. Christ was not only crucified for me. He does not live only in heaven to intercede for me. No! Christ liveth in me. He Himself said that even as His Father dwelt and worked in Him, even so He dwells and works in us. He is truly the life in us by which we live.
Oh, Christian, I beseech you, take time to meditate and adore. Allow the Holy Spirit to make these words live in your heart. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, to manifest Christ in you, to glorify Him in you with the heavenly glory which fills all things. Do not imagine that Christ's life can be manifestd in us unless we die to the world and to self. Christ had to die. You are crucified with Christ and must experience the crucified life. The rest will follow—"I live no longer, Christ lives in me." "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift!"
