For serveral days now a very curious statement made by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians has been coming to mind over and over. It is found in Galatians 2:20. In Chapter 2 Paul adamantly declares that no one is justified by keeping the law of God, but that one can only be justified (declared to be just by God) by one's personal belief in Christ Jesus. Yet, Paul is very concerned that those who are true recipients of an additional birth by the Spirit of God do not think they can simply do as they please without regard for the holy nature of God. They simply cannot go on sinning, rebuilding those sinful habits, attitudes, and values; but rather they are to live a new life which is only available to them as followers of Christ. Thus he declares, "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." (ESV)
This statement of Paul in Galatians is similar to the one he makes in
Romans 6:9-13.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (ESV)
These verses from Paul's teaching in Romans 6 and from his own personal testimony in Galatians 2 make it abundantly apparent that everyone has a choice of two lives to live. One choice has devastating implications for life. A person can refuse any connection with God, either by ingnoring Him as the giver and sustainer of life or by relying only on one's ability to satisfy the law of God for acceptance with God. For those who would make this choice, they have only themselves to depend upon.
Those who make the choice now to accept Christ Jesus by faith have the ability to turn from the futility of life lived without hope or direction. They are the ones who do not rebuild the life of sinful attitudes, habits, or values; but rather they live by faith in Christ. They become aware of the soul-satisfying nature of the God of Creation, and His glory changes them into Christ-likeness and changes them to live in His ways, reflecting His glory.
The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is often used to emphasize these choices which are available. The last stanza of his poem challenges each of us to consider how we will look back on life in the end. It reads,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I wonder today what road we are choosing to travel, what life we are choosing to live. For those of you who are belivers in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us abide in the One who is living in us. For all of the members of our church, let us live unto God by faith in the One who has loved us and given Himself for us.
