Live the crucified life
Easter is always a wonderful Christian holiday. Not only do we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, but we often see people we have not seen in a while. It is a day of joy. But there is an important question that we should ask ourselves during the Easter holiday. Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for my sins so that I can have eternal life. What does that mean for me? What should my life look like in light of the freedom found in the cross of Christ?
Our hopeless situation
While the world is filled with countless religious and philosophical worldviews and beliefs, most people would likely agree that there is something wrong with the world. People die. And sometimes people die in horrible, tragic deaths. Turn on the news and you might hear of a family being killed by a drunk driver, a children’s orphanage being blown up in the middle of a senseless war, and a EF5 tornado plowing through a small town and completely ripping up well-made homes, killing all of its inhabitants.
Death is an inevitable constant in life. Even if we live healthy lives and make it to 100, we will still die. We cannot do anything to avoid death. Death is coming for all of us.
Death is the result of the fall of man in Genesis. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, every human shares the same outcome in life, which is death. As Romans 6:23 reminds us, the wages of sin is death. And as Romans 3:10 says, no one is righteous. We are all sinners and we all deserve to be punished for our sins. Furthermore, we cannot do anything to save ourselves. No matter how good we try to be in life, we cannot take our own sins away. God is a just God and sin must be punished.
If death is coming for us all, and if we cannot do anything to avoid death and save ourselves from our sins, then what hope do we have?
Look to Jesus
Our situation might be utterly hopeless. But God is also a loving God. God is so loving that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins (John 3:16). Jesus lived a perfect life on earth and sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins. We deserve to be punished for our sins but Jesus took that punishment for us on our behalf. Jesus defeated the one who has the power of death. If we place our faith in Jesus, we will be saved. It is only because of Christ that we have eternal life as believers.
This is the greatest news that anyone will ever hear. We might think our sins are too great. But Jesus saved Paul, who described himself as the chief of sinners and who was murdering Christians prior to being saved. There is no greater joy to be had in knowing that Jesus’s sacrifice is enough to save us from the consequences of sin, even though we do not deserve to be saved. We can have eternal life in Jesus. What a beautiful and loving Savior we serve!
Live the crucified life
This brings us back to my initial question at the beginning of the post. Jesus died for our sins. Now what?
Jesus did not die on the cross for us to just simply believe that He died for us and then continue on living our lives as if nothing ever happened. We are called to do far more than live as cultural Christians that only go to church on Sundays and maybe read our Bibles once a week just for a few minutes. Jesus wants our entire lives.
One verse that serves as an excellent summary and motto of the Christian life is Galatians 2:20, which says: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” We need to turn away from our old, sinful ways of living and instead, live for our perfect and loving Savior who died for us. The will of Jesus must be more important than our own.
For freedom, Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). And our freedom should be used to lovingly serve one another and not our flesh (Galatians 5:13). Jesus purified our conscience from dead works so that we can serve our living God (Hebrews 9:14). Jesus wants us to serve God and to serve other people.
The truth of the resurrection should never leave our minds. There are so many people in this world who do not know Jesus. There are so many people without hope. Only Jesus can give people the hope that they truly need.
We need to be living the crucified life. We would be wasting the freedom that Christ has given us if we do not live our lives in humble servitude to our risen Savior. How can we expect to be ambassadors of the love of Christ if we are never living out the crucified life?
Turn away from your sins. Set aside time to read and study the Bible. Build a habit of prayer throughout the day. Be an active member in a local church and look for ways to serve other people, including those who are not saved, for they need hope. This is what we are called to do as Christians. Challenge yourself to live the crucified life.