Bible Reading: Galatians 2:11-21
Can you imagine the joy over buying your first brand new car and then as soon as it was supplied, you ran out to start it and go on a drive. Now you turn the ignition of a brand new, crazily expensive car and hear the engine sounding like a dead, third-hand car. That’s wrong! You’re not going to say, ‘well I’m convinced and certain in the printed word that it’s new’. At some point, what it is must match up with how it is.
It’s the same story for the life of a Christian. We are not just called to be renewed as a cute fancy headline. We are called to live renewed in the everyday layout of our lives.
Paul hits this clearly when he writes
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! Galatians 2:20 TPT
Again, he writes to the Romans
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1 MSG
Our living must be renewed again and again, to the level of the Cross of Jesus!
The cross of Jesus is not just where we find life as Christians. It’s where we find a pattern for how to live that life. I believe that Jesus on the cross is a model for everyone of us to constantly renew ourselves to:
The cross demonstrates a depth of love and sacrifice. The cross demonstrates an unflinching trust in the faithfulness of God. The cross demonstrates a living by dying, a laying down to take up. The cross demonstrates a willingness to follow through in a God direction and not back out in times of intensity.
Being a follower of Jesus includes being a follower of His example given to us on the cross.
We lay down our lives to take up the purpose of God. We lay down our lives for the sake of others. We live in surrendered obedience to the will of the Father.
If our life source is the cross, then our life model must be the cross too.
Here’s where it gets even better: When we follow the pattern of the cross in our everyday, then we will truly see the power of the cross in our everyday! I don’t know about you, but I really need to see His power in my everyday life. In a world so full of emptiness and vanity, I need to see the power of His life. In a world so needily longing for that ‘something more’, I need to be finding it in who Jesus is to me.
As we wait on the Lord today, let’s believe that this year we will be strengthened to live with a renewed commitment to the life that flows from the Cross of Jesus. Newness for us will not just be a headline that we print on our heads, it will be a pattern that we embrace in living our everyday lives.
In Prayer Today
Pray today for a God-spark in your heart that propels your everyday ordinary moments to a consciousness of who Jesus is to you. Pray for that sort of vibe and passion to fill your heart and make you a worthy ambassador of the cross of Jesus.
6 Comments
Kelechi Oyediji
I live in Surrendered obedience to my Father’s will. If my life’s source is the cross, then my life’s model must be the cross too.
Thank You Sir for this.
’Dolapo
Amen! I see Jesus’ power in my everyday life.
This is living now!
Jide
Jesus conscious in my everyday life??
Tai
I am a Christian through and through in Jesus Name.
Priscilla
I daily come to the cross to find a model for which I do life. Being renewed isn’t just a headline but a pattern to which I live daily!
Seun
I see the power of God when I walk in surrender to Him everyday in both the big things and the little things. Thank you sir!