But Christ lives in me

We are of Christ. We assume that Christ is in us and enlivens our spirit, but the flesh (the philosophy of doing it my way and not God's way) sets traps, man sets obstacles, the heart is hardened like stone and in a heart of stone it is impossible to treasure the word of God. The Christ who gave himself for me cannot dwell on stony ground. At what point have you died in Christ so that He can live in you?

If the Christian does not die to his past life (to his selfishness, his self-centeredness, his egotism), Jesus has no place in his heart. He transforms the hardest heart, but yes, something has to die so that He glorifies himself and can “hearth” on the track of our “Heart-port”. If you don't think so, ask Lucas what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. If Paul died to his hatred and his religious zeal when he recognized the voice of the Lord and surrendered at his feet; Why don't we just die on the cross so that Jesus can live and reign sovereignly in all of our being?

I am sure that Jesus has opened a few Jordanians in your life so that you reach the other shore (the shore of grace) almost intact. And you didn't just die because you're afraid of your own funeral; you fear abandoning the passions of your flesh with a stroke of the pen, you fear the loss of possessions and advantages, you tremble at the very idea of counting solely on the mercies of God for your support. And then? Nothing. You worship the antagonism of a Christian life permeated by pure dualism: cold or hot, praise or sadness, depression or anxiety, the church pew or the search for the glory of God outside its walls ... a the flesh or the Spirit.

The old man and the nature that endures pride, conceit, and pedantry have to die with Christ on the cross for the resurrection to new life to work. Luke and the apostle Peter shed light on our portion in the new nature: “… He has granted us his precious and marvelous promises, so that you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of bad desires. (2 P 1.4)

According to Peter, if we have escaped the corruption of the world through evil desires and passions, then we are partakers of God's own nature. I clarify: we are only participants, but we are not God; but something old, ancient, detestable and profane must have died in the heart for God to grant us such a great privilege.

With regard to Luke, he clarifies the matter well so that we do not boast a bit, recreating in the book of Acts Paul's experience in Athens: “Being, then, a lineage of God, we must not think that the Divine Nature is similar made of gold, silver or stone, sculpted by art and human thought. (Acts 17:29).

In reality, the cross must have been the consummated end of all that we were as pernicious sinners. It is about being "dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ro 6:11). God, who sees all, beheld the crucifixion of our flesh when Jesus died on the cross. And then the resurrection to new life in Christ operated (without death there is no resurrection) and it is no longer my life, but Christ's. Yes Lord, it is no longer you, but He and we must let the new life in Christ be expressed in me. The old "me" is no longer so, but Christ living in me.

A poet from my town wrote a beautiful Elegy some years ago, the final verses of which read:

“There are dead people who, although dead, are not in their burials;

There are dead that do not fit in the closed graves

and they break them, and come out, with the knives from their bones,

to continue fighting in battle…! "

This is how I think of the Christian who decides to die to rise again in Christ and to continue fighting, against all odds, the necessary battle of faith.

God bless you!