I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

The apostle Paul, in a powerful word of personal testimony, states one of the most profound statements you will find anywhere on the subject of how one lives after being saved by the amazing grace of God: we live by dying! There are so many lessons we can learn from this particular verse. Let’s give our attention to some of those lessons.

First, and of great importance, is the tense of the verb Paul uses concerning this matter of personal crucifixion – “I have been crucified with Christ.” This is the present perfect tense, and it means an action started in the past continuing in the present. Paul is saying, in essence, that his state of being is that he died to himself in the past, and that state continues on in the present.

But how can that be? How could Paul think of himself as dead when he is actually alive and well? What would lead him to make such an audacious statement? Well, he could make this statement because it was true. And why? Because Paul, to use a well-worn contemporary term, was all in! He was completely surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so that he could state affirmatively that Christ was living in him.

What does this mean for us today? It simply means that if we are indeed crucified with Christ, then our entire outlook on life will change. Let me encourage each of us to go back to the book of Acts and read Paul’s personal testimony. He shares that, when he met the risen Lord on the Damascus Road, his life was forever changed. His perspective was changed from earthly to heavenly. His desires were transformed from being an antagonist against the church to becoming one of the most powerful evangelist/missionaries in all of church history. Why? Because he died to self and surrendered totally to Christ.

Second, and of again of great importance, is the statement the life he is living is by faith in the Son of God. Faith. The ability to see the unseen, to hear the unheard, to experience the unspeakable, to have a companion Who cannot be seen with the physical eye. Faith. It is the absolutely essential element living life “all in”.

The other apostles had actually seen Jesus. They had spent 3 1/2 years under His tutelage. They had been eyewitnesses to His miracles. They had observed Him – His perfect, sinless life; His boldness in the face of opposition; His compassion in the face of oppression; His power in the face of storms. They knew Him well. But Paul did not have those personal experiences with the Lord. As a matter of fact, he was bitter against everything Jesus stood for. He was dead set on destroying the newly formed church.

But now, Paul, through the lens of faith, trusted the Lord – turned his life over to the Lord. There is not question about the fact that his surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ led him to be “all in”, and to live his life by faith.

Third, the result of his being all in, and of his living life by faith, led him to be faithful to the Lord. True, sincere faith in Jesus Christ will have this effect. As one dies to self, he/she becomes more alive in Christ. We begin seeing things through the eyes of faith, as did Paul. We begin seeing the realities of a world in opposition to God, and we begin standing out in stark contrast to the ways of the world.

To be dead with Christ means that we are also alive in Christ.

You see, to be dead with Christ means that we are also alive in Christ. Please, take a moment and reread that statement. Don’t pass over it too quickly. Take a moment to think about the significance of being dead with Christ. A dead person has no rights. They have no feelings. They are dead. When we die with Christ, our desires, our preferences, our worldview, our understanding of all things is immediately changed. We see things as Christ sees. We understand as He understands. We are, as Paul says, new creations – old things have passed away and all things have become new.

When we surrender totally to Him – when we are truly “all in” – then we have done what Jesus says that we must do: “If anyone would follow Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.” The mention of the cross would have brought only one thing to the minds of His listeners: death. So Jesus says it, and then Paul reiterates it: we are dead in Christ, and alive with Christ.

Christians today seem to be self-consumed, self-driven, and have the driving force of self-fulfillment. To be dead with Christ means that we are now Christ-consumed. Christ-driven, and Christ-fulfilled. Let’s take a few minutes and do a serious self-assessment. Are we dead with Christ, and now alive in Him? Or, are we alive for self? If an honest assessment leads us to recognize that we are more concerned with self, then we need to confess that to God, and ask Him from a sincere heart to crucify our flesh, and make us alive in Christ.