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IT IS NOT ABOUT “BEING YOU, ONLY BETTER”
BY PASTOR JÄN VAN OOSTEN
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.
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GALATIANS 2:20 (NIV)
There is a NY Times bestselling self-help book about becoming your “Best Self.” It touts that the author has “helped everyone from pop stars to business executives to people just like you discover the freedom to be their best selves.” Here’s the problem: Christianity is not about “you” becoming a better version of “you.”
At the center of Christianity stands the horrifying instrument of death known as the cross. It was on the cross that Jesus died to save us from sin, death, and the devil. But what was the cross? The cross was the most gruesome form of execution that the Romans could devise, and it was reserved for the worst criminals and traitors. Two thousand years after Christ’s Crucifixion, we have grown accustomed to crosses as beautiful pieces of jewelry. However, a cross sent a shiver up the spine in the first century. So, when Jesus invited people to “take up their cross” and follow Him, it probably sounded outrageous to them. It should still sound outrageous.
The point is Christianity is not a self-help religion where you pull yourself up—with the help of Jesus—to become your best you. No, it is about the old you being put to death at the cross with Jesus. Paul meant it when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” Your spiritual death with Christ is beautifully represented in baptism. Therefore, Paul wrote, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3).
In Galatians 2:20, Paul wrote, “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.” So, when you commit your life to Christ, it is about the old you being put to death. Then you start living a new life that is Christ living through you. Christianity is truly all about Jesus.
Moving Forward
Ask God to show you your life from His perspective. Are you allowing Christ to live through you? Realize that you are part of His Body doing His work, His way.
