“It is no longer I who live”
Have you ever met someone who seems to have a secret source of goodness, blessing, and joy somewhere deep inside? Maybe a family member or co-worker, someone whom you can clearly sense is happy and content? One can wonder how it’s possible to have a life like that, where you’re so happy and you just radiate the life of Jesus, creating peace and joy wherever you are.
Maybe you’ve never met someone like that and you are not sure if such people really exist.
But it is possible for all of us to come to such a rich and happy life. It starts with two Bible verses.
“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.” Romans 6:6 (NLT).
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NLT).
Christ lives in me!
Galatians 2:20 is one of the strongest personal testimonies in the Bible. Only when you have this same testimony: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,” you can say that you have really been born again. Paul says that he lived the life of Jesus. He would never have been able to do that if his old sinful self had not been crucified with Christ as it says in Romans 6:6. Your sinful self is your old attitude of mind that wants to live according to your own selfish interests, lusts, and desires; when that has been crucified, then you can live the life of Jesus.
Then that old life stops; all those old, bad and evil fountains. They’re shut off from below. And then the everlasting fountains from heaven open up. When it is no longer “I” who live, you can live that rich, satisfied, blessed life. And then more and more that fountain will start to stream out from your life.
“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” John 4:14 (NLT).
All of this is possible through the power of the cross. This is God’s power and this is God’s wisdom. And He showed what this power was on the third day, when Jesus arose from the dead. It was this power that could raise Him up out of death. This power broke the chains and bonds of death so that nothing could hold Him back. And then He arose on the third day, as our Saviour. And then later He went up to heaven. (1 Corinthians 1:18,24.)
All of God’s power is available to you
If Jesus had ever done his own human will, acting according to his own human nature, and if the cross had not worked in Him throughout His life, then God’s wisdom would not have come forth from Him. Then foolishness would have come from His life. If He had given in just once, that would have been enough. Then He couldn’t have been our Saviour.
But He was so faithful that He never gave in, not even once, and therefore He became the power of God and the wisdom of God. Remember that He was a man. The Son of man. The man Jesus Christ. And He was so incredibly faithful to His Father. Therefore He could be the Mediator between God and man. (1 Timothy 2:5.)
That’s what it is to love God with all your heart and all your mind and everything that’s within you. (Mark 12:30.) That’s what it means to be wholehearted. And then God will strengthen you with His power. Not just some power, not just a bit of power. But it’s His power that He will help you with.
“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." Ephesians 1:18-20.
Who has ever fought against God and left that battle unharmed? When God is with you, then there’s no one who can be against you. “Who can be against us?” Paul says in Romans 8:31. You have an unending source of power to draw from in your life. When you use that power to keep your old self crucified, and to overcome all the lusts and desires of your sinful human nature, that will be a blessing for you and everyone around you.
He gives you enough power and grace, because you can’t live this new covenant life on your own. You can’t always be happy on your own. No one can manage that. But by God’s grace and God’s power, His godly power, you can live such a life, a rich and happy New Testament life, where you can testify together with Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”