No Longer I

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." 

Galatians 2:20

Summer is over and this is my attempt to articulate what the Lord has done in me through this refreshing and refining season. It's a collection of things I've learned from the incredible community I've done life with and a deeper understanding of the (seriously-way-cooler-than-we-could-ever-imagine) Word of God, all boiled down into one little phrase my friends and I have found ourselves repeating this summer:

// NO LONGER I //

"It is now no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" 

For so long I've been trying to live my life for Christ. I've been trying to use my life to do great things in the name of Jesus. Basically, I've been trying to live my life.  And I've been completely missing it. Here's why-

It's not about me trying to live my life for Jesus.  It's not about my life at all. 

"I have been c r u c i f i e d with Christ." 

When I said yes to Jesus, I laid my life down and my life was nailed to the cross and crucified with Jesus.

Let me repeat that.  we don't get to just nail our sin to the cross with Jesus. we have to nail our whole lives to the cross. We don't just give Jesus our sin but everything inside of us.

 Now this is HIS life. Christ lives in me. No Longer I.

And it changes everything about us.

No Longer I means that we must take up our crosses daily and crucify the wants and desires in us that aren't of Christ. No Longer I means that we are allowing Christ to live in us therefore we live holy lives worthy of the calling that we have received. No Longer I means loving people, investing in souls, praying on our knees daily, and doing hard and sometimes terrifying things. No Longer I means living in crazy and reckless abandonment of ourselves. It means adventure, spontaneity, satisfaction, joy, peace, and most of all it means LIFE.

 Because only HIS life is truly life.

No Longer I.