Crucified with Christ

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Galatians…but that is only because I just read it this morning.  Tomorrow 1^st Kings will be my favorite book…and on and on it goes. God’s Word is so infinitely filling…so much to learn about Him…so little time.

        My favorite verse in Galatians is found in chapter 2 verse 20…I will try by memory…you can see if I do it correctly:  “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  What a great truth to be stored in our hearts!

        To be crucified with Christ however is not a pleasant thought if you see the whole picture…there is nothing pretty about crucifixion…it is a brutal death.  Recently I read about several American women who flew to India, Pakistan, and China to visit some of the Christian women who are part of the great network of underground Christians.  When the American women met these women of Christ (it is the only way I know to describe them), they shared how they have been praying for the American Christian women because they know how shallow western Christianity has become with all of its indulgences and easy life style.  When the American women heard the heart of these women who had identified with the sufferings of Christ, they wept.  You can read about this in the book Daughter’s of Hope.  If you can’t find it, you can contact Lamplighter or read about it on our website.  When I read their account my heart was stirred.  Have I been made conformable to His death?  Paul in Philippians 3:10 writes:  “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;^”

        Our eastern sister’s in Christ had indeed been made conformable to Christ’s death, and were daily experiencing the fellowship of His sufferings.  They told of the brutal beatings, the rapes, the threats…but they also told of the miracles of protection and redemption and healing.  “Oh “Father, give us your heart to stay focused on the calling that you have called us….to lay hold on eternal life, no matter what the cost.”

        “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Rom 8:17