| “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). |
| This verse is worth memorizing, as it will help us live to please the Lord Jesus. When we were saved, we realized that we could not do anything to save ourselves, but that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Our sins were forever put away when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and accepted Him as our Savior. |
| Here in today’s verse we have a further step in our Christian life. The Lord Jesus not only shed His blood to wash away our sins, but He died so that we could be free from our old sinful nature. The Lord Jesus died, was buried, and then rose the third day. In His death and burial, God saw our old sinful condition as being buried too. Then, when He rose again, it is like the new life we have in Christ. Baptism is a picture of this, for we go down under the water, which is a picture of death, and then we come up again, which is a picture of resurrection. |
| God looks upon every believer as having died with Christ, and risen again. Now He wants us to display that new life He has given us. That is why our verse speaks of our having been “crucified with Christ,” yet we live, because we now have a resurrection life with Him. Baptism is the outward sign that we have practically taken this position. |
| If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, have you been baptized? It is important, for that identifies us as Christians before this world. We have taken our place with Christ in resurrection and want to walk in the power of that new life we have. |
| This does not mean that we never sin, for we still have the sinful nature and sometimes, sad to say, it will act up. Then we have to come to the Lord and confess the sin. But God never assumes that we are going to sin, for there is power in our death with Christ and having his resurrection life to keep us from sin. Be sure to add this verse to your memory work! |
