The biggest lie that has permeated the Church is Self-Worth, Self-health, Self-stuff. We’ve made Jesus out to be this buddy who exists to make us happy. There are many Christian Preachers and influencers and denominations and whatever else that say “do for you.” That is the opposite of “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Why on earth would we think Jesus died for us so we can find fulfillment in ourselves? Why would we think life in Christ would be easy if He was brutally tortured, then murdered on a cross?
Loved ones, stop making your walk in Christ about you. It’s about SURRENDER to and complete fulfillment in Jesus, completely, utterly and totally. Loved ones, God is FOR you, not ABOUT you. Put away any teachings/teachers who say otherwise. The Bible is FOR you, not ABOUT you. Put away any false notions creeping in that tell you otherwise. The Gospel is FOR you, not ABOUT you. It's about Jesus Christ and all He did, nothing else (unless it's about OUR sin that put HIM on the Cross). Remove yourself from the equation. Jesus died to make you new.
Think about Christ and the Crucifixion. Jesus IS God. He put on human flesh and was born as one of us. He was perfect in every way, not merely innocent, but GOOD! He offered Himself up for us. He was tortured, brutalized and murdered IN OUR PLACE. If the Gospel has anything to do with us, it’s in the fact that Jesus died because of us. But He also died FOR us. He died to make our relationship restored with the Father, relationship that we broke in our sin and rebellion against Holy and Almighty God. Jesus died and was buried, and on the third day rose from the grave. He did so to give us life, now and restored in His presence in the life to come. He died to make us new. It’s all for and about Him. Keep it that way.
Luke 9:21-26
And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Galatians 2:15-21
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 5:13-26
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
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