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Scripture

[ecko_quote source="Galatians 2:20 "]I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me[/ecko_quote]

Devotion

A few weeks ago, while I was working on my office computer, one of the important application was disabled. This application is vital for me to carry out my job. I tried my level best and asked my colleagues for help. Unfortunately, they could not fix the problem either and suggested me contact our helpdesk which is located in Wellington. A lady attended my call. She asked for my identification and my computer ID. After that, she sent me a message which requested for an approval to access my computer. I agreed and gave her the remote access. To my surprise, she was just browsing all around my computer and opening various applications. I was just watching her operating my computer without my interference. She took control of every aspect. She requested me to simply wait while she is fixing the problem. Finally, she identified the trouble and fixed it accordingly.

This incident taught me a spiritual implication of our lives in Christ. In the above incident, I should not interfere with what she was doing. If I did, the computer would crash, or she may withdraw from fixing the problem. Similarly, we should not live but let Christ live in us. The above verse states we have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer we that live, but Christ lives in us. When we provide full access and fully surrender which includes being dead to our will, only then Christ can make a difference in our life. Jesus said in Mathew 6:24” "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. We should no longer live let Christ live in us. If we continue to live, we only encounter defeat in every realm of our lives and would only receive bitter disappointment. Our best efforts and talents will not make us any good. Our system and thought lines are corruptive, and we cannot bring any good from it. The best thing we should do is to let our 'self' die so that Christ can live in us. Therefore, learn the art of surrendering moment by moment knowing that we and the life which we were living in the flesh have been crucified with Christ. And then, we can live with of full of faith in Jesus.

When we are crucified with Christ by faith in Him, we have to completely surrender every selfish desire and ambition to the perfect will of God. Self-promotion and self-pleasing desires are the greatest obstacles between man and salvation. It is because the very nature of man always wants to please himself, and this self-recognition is a building block for sin. All sin erupts from the desire to please self which must be crucified with Christ in surrender to the will of God before salvation can bear fruit. Man, cannot overcome his inherited sinful nature on his own and needs the power and assistance of the Holy Spirit to make this happen, but the surrender of his own will to that of God’s will is essential for the elimination of his own desire’s powerful motivation and enslavement. This is repentance. It is a surrender of one’s own control and will to the power and will of the Holy Spirit that is the beginning of being crucified with Christ.

Not by man’s own effort to battle his corruptible nature, but in surrender of his own will to God’s will (1 Peter 1:23). This proves to be a great challenge for many people because we attempt to control our sinful nature on our own. This only results in repeated fall into the same old, sinful ways from which  we are attempting to escape. If it had been possible for a man to overcome his sinful nature with his own power and will, there would not have been any need for Jesus to die for our sins.

What's next?

salvation is  by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8–9).Many Christians want to be obedient but continue to stumble in sin because they try to hang on to parts of their old self which they think they can control. This is a self-defeating rationale that relies on the idea that man saves himself by his own works. The Bible teaches us that nothing a man does can save his soul. Only salvation by the grace of God can (Ephesians 2:8–9).

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