The Life I Live I Live By Faith ... Sometimes

My Utmost For His Highest

"I have been crucified with Christ" . . -Galatians 2:20

"The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . ." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"-but-"I have been identified with Him in His death." [...] ". . . it is no longer I who live . . . ." My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed. ". . . and the life which I now live in the flesh," not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, "I live by faith in the Son of God . . . ." CHAMBERS

It is so difficult to remember this truth.  And what is more difficult is living it.  We want to live our lives in our own terms. As if we were not bought with a price. Living our lives under the authority of God. One of our granddaughters recently joined the Air Force.  She is in specialty training.  But she is learning that her life is no longer her own.  She is not free to do want she wants in all things.  So she is living within the bounds of the authority of the Air Force.  She could choose to do otherwise, but there would be consequences.  I knew a number of young soldiers who served under me in the Army who wanted to wear the uniform, but wanted to define the terms of their service.  It just doesn't work that way.

So it is with we Christians.  We live under God's authority. .. By faith ... But we can choose to live in our own wisdom ... Often do ... Defining our own terms for what the Christian life is to be like ... But it just doesn't work that way. ELGIN

Romans 12:1-2.  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be  transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)