Fixing Our Eyes on Our Crucified Lord
Saturday’s Verse:
From Galatians 2:20 ESV
“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.”
Our Christian life doesn’t start with us trying to become good people. Our life starts with Christ’s work on our behalf. In Baptism, our old sinful selves are crucified with Christ and raised to live a new life belonging to Him.
Paul does not claim to have made himself worthy, strong or righteous. Instead, “Christ lives in me.” Christ’s life is at work in us when we trust in Him. The Gospel is not about us trying to please God—it’s about what Jesus has already done to please Him. Jesus loved us, gave Himself up for us on the cross, and now grants us His forgiveness, life and salvation by grace as a gift. By faith we live before God. Our faith is not confidence in our ability to believe. It is confidence in the Son of God who believes us.
Whenever guilt, weakness, or fear rises up in us we don’t need to look inside ourselves for confidence. We fix our eyes on Christ crucified. The life we live in this present time is His life living in us by the power of His Word, promises, and grace, moment by moment.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus Christ, you loved me and gave yourself for me. Daily kill my sinful self and renew a right spirit within me by your forgiveness. Live your life in and through me by your Spirit, that I may put my trust in You alone and love my neighbor. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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