Live

Remember the most important piece of information we talked about last week? (We are all sinners in need of a savior.) Hopefully you have acted on that information. This morning I want to talk about what happens next in our lives after we have been forgiven. The easiest way for me to share what’s next is to let God tell us what’s next: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20 CSB. There you go, that’s it. Easy, right? Ok, maybe not so easy. Let me take a minute and unpack what that verse is telling us. When we realize our sinful state, our need of a savior, and we ask Jesus to forgive us, we are crucifying our old sin nature to the cross with Christ. We are asking Christ to come alive in us. When he does that, he begins to transform us into his image. Then, because I am becoming more like Christ, my life and the way I live my life starts to look very different. Instead of me looking out for my own interests and caring only about myself, I begin to see people and their needs with the eyes and heart of Jesus. I start to become more concerned about people meeting Jesus than about my own comforts and desires. The more that I get to know Christ, the closer I grow to him, the more I start to look like him, and the more people will see him in me. You see, the point of being forgiven and made new in Christ is not just to go to heaven when I die, it is not just about my future. It also all about my present. It means that right now I don’t need to be bound by sin, I don’t have to live for and in sin. I can be different and I can make a difference in others, so their present and future can be redeemed as well.

How well can people see Christ in you?