Thursday, June 25, 2015

The Cross

I found the following devotion encouraging from The Heart of the Matter:

The cross changes you. From birth, each of us was under the control and dominion of sin. In his physical death, Christ broke the spiritual power and authority sin had over us. In Galatians 2:20, look at the words, “I have been crucified.” The verb tense points to a definitive action in the past, with a continuing and permanent result. What Christ did then on the cross permanently alters who you are now and who you will continue to be. But Paul goes even further. He says, “I no longer live.” Paul is saying that the changes inside him are so basic to who he is as a human being that it is as if he no longer lives! Yes, he is still Paul, but because of his death in Christ, he is a Paul who is utterly different at his core. When you grasp the fundamental nature of this change within you as a believer, you will begin to grasp your true potential. You are not the same as you once were. You have been forever changed. You no longer live under the weight of the law or the domination of sin. Christ’s death fulfilled the law’s requirements and broke the power of sin. You do not have to give in to sin. You can live in new ways amid the same old situations, because when Christ died physically, you died spiritually. This constitutional change is permanent!