Galatians 2:20 AMP
I have been crucified with Christ that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Before coming to know Christ as our personal Savior the perspective we had, how we viewed who we were was influenced by what in life we did and didn't do, what we had or didn't have. We internalized what others thought of us and what we thought of ourselves. This affected all our interactions, all we said, and did. Through them we developed the big picture of who we thought we were. They transformed and solidified the identity we created. They determined how we evaluated and approached every life encounter. They became our truth, against which we weighed and based all things. But with these came fallibilities.
Since how others regarded us and how we regarded ourselves derived from external factors we developed certain insecurities. Because of the transience of the external, its instability, shifting with the tides of life, our self-perception became unstable. Life was dependent on maintaining those external factors. What we did and what we possessed in material wealth became the litmus test of our worthiness, our happiness, and our well-being. If the external shifted, so did our internal thoughts. How we saw ourselves hung precariously in the balance of our strength, our good fortune, and chance.
But in Christ a new story unfolded. One based not on who we perceive we are from a worldly standpoint, maintaining the external under our own power, but who through Christ we have been made, an internal awakening. It has nothing to do with what we have or haven't done. Nothing to do with our perception dependent on what we possess, what others think of us, what we have gone through or where we have come from, not even on our identity, what we developed through a lifetime of experiences. Nothing in this world holds weight over who we now are in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP) "If anyone is in Christ that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior, he is a new creature reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit; the old things the previous moral and spiritual condition have passed away. Behold, new things have come because spiritual awakening brings a new life."
In Galatians 2:20 AMP we see the change from our old self to our new creation. Paul the Apostle says, "I have been crucified with Christ that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me." In this we see the old self crucified with Christ, having passed away, the life manufactured and created by us. To something new, "But Christ lives in me." This is the new life which has come, a new creation, reborn and renewed. This "I" all we thought about ourselves, based on this world and our relation to it has died. Our old identity no longer lives, it has been replaced with Christ living in us, who we now are spiritually, holy, righteous, and pure.
Paul goes on to say, "The life I now live in the body I live by faith by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Through faith, adhering, relying, and trusting in Christ, our new belief and focus is on who we have been made. Through this faith our new mindset, our walk in the body transforms, aligning our lives to Christ's life through the power of the Holy Spirit. As it says in Romans 12:2 AMP "Be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind." We received this newness of life through Christ who loved us and gave Himself up for us. What He did through His sacrifice reconciled us to God, completely changing us spiritually. Fixing our eyes on Christ and who we are through Him, the core of our being, brings about a whole new walk of life.
At times we can be so easily fooled into believing our walk in the body is who we are. It is so easy for us to slip back into believing what comes from our former life is somehow part of our new identity. It is by faith we walk, not in what we see, but who God says we are. Yes, our walk in the body isn't fully aligned with the Spirit, who He says we now are but that does not change the truth of what He says about us. Just as Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man, we too grow in the wisdom of our new reality. A renewing from above and not of this world. It is through this wisdom taught to us by the Holy Spirit that brings change in us.
Just as Christ was deity when He walked this earth but also fully man yet without sin, we too are truly who He has made us holy, righteous, and pure, Christ living in us. And at the same time, we walk in the body and experience the process of our transformation. But our reality is not in the body but in the Spirit. Even though Christ was fully man it did not change who He was, who He knew Himself to be. From the truth of who He was, flowed all He said and did. As it was with Him, so it is with us, that in knowing who we truly are, all we think, say, and do flow. Our focus now is on our true reality the unseen, walking by faith not sight.
In Ephesians 4:23-24 AMP we are told, "Be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude, and put on the new self the regenerated and renewed nature, created in God’s image, godlike in the righteousness and holiness of the truth" This is the progressive process of renewing our minds, having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude, Christ living in us, who we now are as reborn and recreated. This process of putting on the new self is the renewing of our minds leading to our transformation. We set our minds on the fact that we now have a regenerated and renewed nature, created in God's image, godlike in the righteousness and holiness of the truth thus transforming our lives and aligning ourselves with the Spirit. This is now our attitude, our minds focused not on ourselves but on Christ and the change He has brought about in us.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 AMP we read, "And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." When Moses went up the mountain, he saw the glory of the Lord and his face shone from it. But as it began to fade, he put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the fading glory. But our faces are unveiled as we continually see ourselves like Christ as in a mirror, the renewing of our minds. And through it, progressively being transformed into His image, the alignment with the Spirit, that which we have been made, from one degree of glory to another.
Being, is setting our minds on Christ, the process of renewal, and allowing that to envelop us. It is not the walk in the body, for setting our minds on the flesh brings forth death, but a mind set on the Spirit brings forth life and peace. (Romans 8:6 AMP) Being is about Christ living in us who we now are and setting our minds on that alone even though all the while our walk in the body is progressively being transformed. This duality, believing who we now are and at the same time accepting the process of our transformation, God’s hand working in our lives. It is a daily mindset, laying aside the old for the new. Just as the "I" has been crucified and is no longer, we are not the transforming process but rather the truth of who we are, the new that renews our minds, this new identity is now our focus. Transformation, the aligning with the Spirit is our walk in the body becoming who Christ has already made us.
Before Christ our eyes were fixed entirely on ourselves what we did, who we thought we were from our own doing, now they are fixed entirely on Christ, what He has done. We went from striving to maintain and become something to living from a position, not to a position. In this state of being, we are continually aligning with the Spirit, like God in true righteousness and holiness. From the inner to the outer, the internal overflowing of the Spirit. It is because we are now holy, and righteous, and pure that He dwells within us. And it is because of this that we live out a holy, righteous, and pure life to the praise of His glorious grace. Our gratitude for His immeasurable love for us, bringing about our salvation.
I pray we let the glory of the Lord shine in us opening our eyes to see what He has done, recreating us, our new being, and shining forth His light to the world.