Have you been crucified?

I have. Perhaps you have, too. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." ~Galatians 5:24-25

I'm no spiritual genius by any standards, but I've learned a lot in the past few months about how these verses play out in my own life. I don't know about you, but I have to put my sinful nature through that process daily...okay, multiple times throughout any given day. It's not fun. It doesn't feel good. It's not even completely what I want. Choosing to live by the Spirit means killing the sinful nature. It's death. Painful and real.

Maybe it doesn't feel that way to you. Maybe your relationship with Christ is so strong that you don't have to fight off that old, sinful part of you in the extreme ways that I do. If that's the case, just praise God that what I need to say today sounds like nonsense to you!

I don't know if it's because I didn't meet Christ until I was 15 years old (for me, that was plenty of time to experience the fleeting pleasure of sin) or if it's because my nature is just more depraved then some. I struggle though. I mean I struggle a lot. I love Christ. I do. I believe God's Word. I hear His voice. I know His amazing love, His unmatched comfort, His abounding grace. Yet I live in this constant struggle between wanting immediate gratification and longing to wait indefinitely on my Lord. I require constant reminders that sin has no power over me. It's True. Why can't I get that through my thick skull...through the depths of my hard heart??

Sometimes the battles within me are small and sometimes they are seemingly insurmountable, but I'm in a constant state of awareness regarding my tendency toward sin. Do you feel that way? Or are you able to function from day to day with such an undeniable understanding and consciousness of greater things that you don't even notice the sinful nature inside you? If you ever find yourself passing through this place (that's right, this valley of total awareness of sin, this place that I live), take heart dear friends. We are in good company. It is Paul who inevitably first crosses my mind. Grab your precious copy of God's Word and join me in Romans. I stand with Paul today and proclaim "What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!"~Romans 7:24-25

Though keenly aware of the sinful desires still within me, praise God that I can also join with Paul in his confidence:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."~Romans 8:38-39

Nothing. That means not even me or this exhausting struggle within my own heart. I find inexpressible comfort in the fact that I belong to Christ. He lives within me, and nothing can peel us apart. Sanctification is a bumpy road with many sharp curves and unexpected blockades. I often feel the slips and falls are bruising and breaking me in ways that will never heal, but in reality what's behind the ugliness is a heart that's looking more and more like that of Christ. I'm so thankful for this difficult, beautiful journey to future glory.