Crucified, Yet Crucified Again

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Ga 5:24-25 AV)

Here is a great example of the doctrinal and practical in balance.  Paul uses the past tense in referring to the crucifixion of the flesh.  Yet we know from his other writings that this is an ongoing process.  It happened once at salvation.  Repentance crucifies the flesh and the lusts. This is what we see in verse twenty-five.  Verse twenty-four speaks of the one-time crucifixion of the flesh and lusts at the point of salvation.  Verse twenty-five reveals this process is an ongoing one.  Verse twenty-five states our positional existence as in the Spirit.  Seeing we are in the Spirit, then we should live as such.  We forget that at the point of salvation, the flesh and lusts of the flesh were surrendered.  We repented of our sins.  Our desires changed to that which is holy, righteous, and good.  If that happened in the past, then it needs to continue into the future.

Many of us struggle with maintaining a healthy weight.  We try many things.  We try one fad diet after another.  Dieting starts with recognizing the need to lose weight.  We take inventory of all the things in our kitchens or pantries that are not good.  We look at our meal plan and realize it is not helpful.  Regardless of what plan we choose; it all starts the same way.  We look at our weight and habits.  We decide that continuing to live as we are, weight will be gained and not lost.  So, we look at all the bad things we cannot eat and rid the house of them.  We plan our meals.  We watch what we eat.  We drink more water.  Our intentions are pure.  Our dedication is high.  Life happens.  It starts with a cursory introduction of the foods we cannot eat.  A piece of candy here.  A church fellowship there.  Little by little, the foods we are not supposed to eat creep back in.  Falling to temptation does not undo the initial dedication to the cause.  It happened.  Back then, we were truly committed and disciplined.  What we decided to do back then must continue.  So, we rededicate ourselves to the plan.

Accepting Christ does not come with automatic holiness.  The old man is still a factor.  The Holy Spirit convicted our hearts at the point of salvation, and we wanted nothing to do with sin.  We hated ourselves.  We hated what we did and what we were.  We turned our back on the filthy life of sin and cried out to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  We arose from our prayer completely free from guilt and shame.  We promised ourselves that from that point forward, nothing but righteousness.  It didn’t take long.  Israel wanted to go back to Egypt after only three days of freedom.  It doesn’t take long for sin to return.  But here is where Paul is trying to teach the new converts.  The law is for our benefit.  Not our salvation.  The law is the means by which God blesses and we please Him.  If we began in the Spirit, then let us continue to walk in the Spirit.  This requires we forsake our sin over and again.  Every day we must return to the altar of confession.  Every day we have to renew our walk with God and surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Every day.  The battle was started.  But the battle must continue.