I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 NIV
Live By Faith
Last year, Canadian Christian think tank Cardus conducted another survey called “Still Christian(?)” to look at the relationship between the personal beliefs of Canadian Christians and the teachings of various church denominations. In the survey, the questions were essentially “mere Christianity” – if you didn’t agree with them, you were incoherent in terms of the Christian faith. The 2024 report stated that “younger Christians appear to be more intentional or committed to the teachings and practices of the faith than Christians of their parents’ or grandparents’ generations.”
***
The heart of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is one of the unique aspects of the Gospel – everything about our faith is centered around the person of Jesus – who came with the purpose to sacrifice Himself as the sin bearer and redeemer for the whole human race. We Christians spend a lot of time focusing on Jesus’ death and resurrection, as we should, but there is another aspect to the Christian faith that we need to also focus on more often. Paul writes about this in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” If we are going to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, we are called to dying daily to self and sin, so that Jesus can live His life through me, and I can walk in newness of life in victory. Only then will we truly live by faith in the Son of God.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley