Galatians 2:20 (TPT)
20 “My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine!
What does it mean to be a Christian?
What if I told you mental hoops are not to be jumped through to be saved—to become a Christian? Simply realizing you believe (John 6:28-29) in the finished work of the cross for salvation is all that is necessary in order to run into the throne room of God crying “Abba, Abba,” “Daddy, Daddy” (Galatians 4:6). Jesus became sin for you and died for your sin (the work of His blood shed for you) (Ephesians 1:7). He died to bring you with Him to the cross to crucify your old man with its sinful nature and bring you up from the grave, a new creation, into newness of life—totally dependent on His Life being lived in oneness with yours (the work of His body broken for you) (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:3-6). This is all His work, nothing required of you. As you consider this, would you call me a heretic or would you say, I have embraced Jesus in all His fullness, which includes His finished work on the cross? I have realized that nothing of me was responsible for my salvation. The fact is I am now a child of God, a joint-heir with Christ, righteous, holy, pure and perfect. That certainly doesn’t describe my behavior but it does describe the trueness of who I am, one with Christ. It defines how God sees me, complete in Christ, just the way He created me. He doesn’t even have to look through Christ or the cross to see me. I am invited to live from the purity of the Life of Christ every day of my life as I am one with Him. Yes! I can experience Easter every day!
It is finished!!!
Jesus, our Fountain of Life, invites everyone to come to Him. He’s already done all of the work to get us where we want to go—an eternal relationship with God. As we fall deeper in love with our First Love, Jesus, we will want to repent and totally depend on Him to be the Way in this life, knowing that one day, we will spend eternity with Him. It all starts on this earth just by one simply realizing he/she is saved by believing. If you have never considered this, Invite Him In! You will experience the free gift of salvation and grace and an adventure you can’t even ask, think or dare imagine! Happy Resurrection Day every day! That is New Covenant Living.
Romans 6:3-6 (TPT) 3 Or have you forgotten that all of us who were immersed into union with Jesus, the Anointed One, were immersed into union with his death?
4 Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with him, so that when the Father’s glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life. 5 For since we are permanently grafted into him to experience a death like his, then we are permanently grafted into him to experience a resurrection like his and the new life that it imparts.
6 Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.