"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." ~ Deuteronomy14:2

Friday, February 3, 2012

Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: February 3

"... yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ..." ~ Galatians 2:20
We have just declared that Christians are those who are really living. And here Paul's "clear stone" flashes so brightly that we almost turn away in confusion. "... nevertheless I live; yet not I ..." What does this mean? In my own [Eugenia Price, the author's] experience I have found it to mean not the I with whom those around me had to contend with for those years before my conversion to Jesus Christ. I believe it means "not (the false) I." Nevertheless my true self (the one God intended and created in the first place) really lives. My false, phony self --- the self my unregenerate heart "created" and intended --- is no longer the dominant factor. She was crucified when Jesus died. Therefore my true self lives. And this true self is able to live for the first time because she is enabled to do it. Christ lives in me. Right in my mortal being. He didn't until I received Him there. But He does now. And how could anyone --- even I --- remain the same when my entire central being is kept constantly in contact with the sinless Son of God? How could even I remain the same when I have fallen under His influence? This cannot be captured in words. They grow more stubborn as they go stumbling by, and I can only understand Paul's relief when the Spirit directed him simply to say: ... Christ is in me, the hope of glory!"
"... nevertheless ... not I, but CHRIST liveth in me ..."

No comments: