Most Understanding Lord, since the beginning of time man has tried doing good deeds to prove his worthiness of Your love and reap the benefit of eternal life. The Bible tells me that the law by itself cannot make me acceptable to You and eliminate the stain of sin from my soul. So, if obeying the law does not save me, why then should I obey the 10 Commandments and the words of the Prophets? My only conclusion is that the law does have an important role in my life because it guards me from sinning and provides me with Godly standards on how I should lead my life. It also convicts me of my sins which, in turn, causes me to seek Your forgiveness. And it pushes me to trust in the sufficiency of Your love since I can never be perfect in carrying it out. The law cannot save me, but since becoming a Christian, I can see how it guides me in a life You require.
Because I have been infected by sin, I cannot keep myself from violating Your laws. Fortunately, My Heavenly Father provided me with a way to salvation which depends on my faith in You and not my own efforts. Even though I know this truth, I must guard against the temptation of using service, good deeds, charitable giving or any other effort on my part as a substitute for faith in You. As a result of Your actions on Calvary, Your Father looks at me as though I died with You because the penalty of my sins died with You and I’ve been given new life. I have become one with You and my experiences must become a mirror Your actions. As a Christian, my new life started when I united myself to You and I gladly allowed my old life to die. As a result of my new life, I must regularly reject my sinful desires and continue to follow Your lead.
So, my focus as a Christian is not in dying but in living. Because I have been crucified with You, I also share in the power of rising with You. Through my identifying with You, I have been reconciled with the Father and I have been set free to grow into Your likeness. In daily life, I should seek to plug in to Your resurrection power to wage my war against sin. Doing this is not as easy as it sounds. But the thing I should always try to remember is that I am no longer alone because You now live in me. You provide all the power I need for living and You provide me with hope for my future. I understand that without the help of the Holy Spirit my road in life would be very difficult. That is why I know that I must plug in to Your power through Him. My deepest desire is to never allow my life to mirror anything that makes it look like You died for nothing. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.