So this is a spin-off thread from "Maturity in Christ"...
We can't speak about any kind of spiritual maturity without speaking of the narrow gateway of being crucified with Christ. The narrow path that follows in this now resurrected life of abiding in Jesus is as we remain a living sacrifice allowing our flesh to remain crucified so that Jesus can live His life through us. It's a tall order and very difficult. It goes against the grain of our need for freedom and autonomy. Few will want to do this and even when they who think they would want to prove unable to remain in that crucified state.
But we can encourage one another to press forward in this high calling in the Lord. If there were more of us that were willing and able to walk that narrow path...more of us would succeed...and the face of the world would change.
Everybody wants to see change but nobody wants the change to depend on their faithfulness to the high calling in Christ.
When we turn to God in a full surrender He inspects us...to see how willing we are to embark on a walk IN Christ. If He deems we are..then He crucifies us with Christ. This is not something we can do. Jesus didn't crucify Himself either...others did. But when we are crucified with Jesus it isn't others doing it...it is God by the Spirit doing it.
Why would we want such a thing?
it is only as we allow our lives to be taken from us...that we receive His divine life to be lived through us.
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
No longer our life...no longer our faith....but still we retain our free will to stop the process when we want to. God doesn't hold us by force. It must be willingly...lovingly.
But how long can we last in such a precarious lifestyle? How long can we tolerate living sacrificially?
We can't speak about any kind of spiritual maturity without speaking of the narrow gateway of being crucified with Christ. The narrow path that follows in this now resurrected life of abiding in Jesus is as we remain a living sacrifice allowing our flesh to remain crucified so that Jesus can live His life through us. It's a tall order and very difficult. It goes against the grain of our need for freedom and autonomy. Few will want to do this and even when they who think they would want to prove unable to remain in that crucified state.
But we can encourage one another to press forward in this high calling in the Lord. If there were more of us that were willing and able to walk that narrow path...more of us would succeed...and the face of the world would change.
Everybody wants to see change but nobody wants the change to depend on their faithfulness to the high calling in Christ.
When we turn to God in a full surrender He inspects us...to see how willing we are to embark on a walk IN Christ. If He deems we are..then He crucifies us with Christ. This is not something we can do. Jesus didn't crucify Himself either...others did. But when we are crucified with Jesus it isn't others doing it...it is God by the Spirit doing it.
Why would we want such a thing?
it is only as we allow our lives to be taken from us...that we receive His divine life to be lived through us.
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
No longer our life...no longer our faith....but still we retain our free will to stop the process when we want to. God doesn't hold us by force. It must be willingly...lovingly.
But how long can we last in such a precarious lifestyle? How long can we tolerate living sacrificially?