Galatians 2:20-21: Part 2

“But Christ lives in me.”

Here is the answer: But Christ lives in me. Just as Christ took us with him to death in order to free us from bondage, he took us with him through his resurrection to give us a new life that can live in freedom. Does this sound familiar? Isn’t that what baptism is all about. Baptism is just a symbol of what Christ has already done in the life of every believer. We are the body of Christ. What happened to his body, has happened to us(7). We died with him so he could free us from our bondage to sin. We were buried with him to put away our sins. We were raised from the dead with him and given a new life that is totally equipped to live in freedom and please God. What does this new life look like? Christ(11). Guess what: Christ pleases God every time. He’s the only one who can, and he does it naturally. We please God when we stop trying to serve the best we can (and failing)…when we stop doing what seems right to us, hoping the God will jump on board and bless it…when we allow God to show us what our best efforts look like to him(10) and let him break us of ourselves. Most people who will read this want to serve God. We want to please God. That is not the question. The problem is, we want to do so without first allowing ourselves to be broken. Without giving up the control that we think we have (which is actually just bondage to sin). Works that are the result of us trying hard to please God mean nothing to him(10). The only way our actions can please God is when they are the direct result of our submission to God. That submission will lead to brokenness. And brokenness gets us out of the way so Christ (the new life) can be manifested in our physical lives.

Grace,

Tim

7. Romans 6:1-7
8. Romans 6:17-19
9. Ephesians 2:3-7
10. Isaiah 64:6
11. Colossians 3:3-4