GRACE
Galatians 2: 19b-20
“I have been crucified with Christ; so it is no longer I who live, but it is 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. “
The very heart of the letter to the Galatians helps us understand that we are “made righteous” by dying with Christ and dying to ourselves, so that “Christ may live in me”. It is by Christ’s faith that I live, Christ is faithful to God and makes possible the way of righteousness for all who believe.
I try to rest in this knowledge. It gives me great hope that Christ’s faith saves me. This allows me to do the work of dying to myself and all of those forces around me that would make my life “less” than what Christ calls me to be. And as I cling to Christ’s faith, my own faith grows.
May we all use the grace we have received in Christ, to learn to live as those guided by the Spirit. May we remember that Easter was never intended to be about going back “to normal”, it is rather, to remember that we have a new life, a life that is made new, by the One who gives himself for us all.
Charles Wesley’s great Easter hymn describes this beautifully:
Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
O God who leads us through all things, and raises us to new life. Raise us up in Your faith, that we may faithfully follow you from the cross, to the grave and into this new resurrected life. Amen.
-- Rev. Kelly Giese
