I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
In Christ we have a new life that is different from the life that we used to live. Our old life was characterized by self-serving, self-sufficient and a desire to live to ourselves, independent of God. 'Self' was our god, and we did whatever it pleased. What God said or desired exerted no authority over us. But in Christ, all of this should change because an entirely new life has been given to us. Life in Christ is one that is entirely dependent on God, and self-giving, but more than that, it is a new life that belongs to Christ by reason of His redemptive work on the cross. The life we now live in our body is no more our old life, but Christ's resurrected life imputed to us.
I once heard the story of a Chinese man who got saved and was on a train ride. On the couch with him were three other men who were gambling, but he showed no interest in what they were doing. Turning to him, they invited him to join them in their game, but he answered and told them that he didn't come on the ride with his 'own' hands. Asked whose were the hands with him, he told them that the hands on him were not his own, but Christ's who bought him with His blood. How true!
The same is true for all of us, because of what Christ did for us, we are no longer ours, but Christ's who bought us with His blood; therefore, we must use our lives in the same way that we know that Christ would use His body. How wonderful our walk in this world will be if we live like this. This is the life that will show us most as the true representatives of Christ in a dark world. The question that we should constantly ask is, "what will Jesus do if He were to be in the same position as us"? Will He speak the same words we want to speak, or react in the same way we plan to react?
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 is apt in its conclusions, "...if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."
Toni
