When we think about living the Christian life, we must begin at the beginning. Every Christian is “born” at the cross of Jesus, and we know that well. Yet we so easily forget that we are never meant to move on from the cross, or somehow “graduate” from it.
Kneeling at the cross of Jesus, we first realised the darkness of our sin, knowing that he was crucified because of it. And we saw the brightness of his love, as we believed that he had died in our place to save us and bring us to his Father. At the foot of the cross, our new life began in a blaze of repentance and forgiveness, gratitude and love, as the Holy Spirit did his first and most wonderful work in us.
But it isn’t long before we feel it’s time to stand up, dust off our knees, and wander away. We start to think of ourselves as growing up, becoming better people, not needing so much help anymore. We want to be able to say that our past really is behind us, that we are stronger now, that we can stand on our own two feet. And we tell ourselves that what God wants for us now is independence and maturity. “Since Jesus has done so much for me,” we reason, “the least I can do is give this my best shot and try to be a good Christian.” No longer on our knees in dependence, we walk off out into the world alone. This drifting away from the cross is a serious mistake, for it misses the essential shape and pattern of the Christian life. But it is also very common.
Of course, it is true that God wants us to grow in our love and knowledge of him (Eph. 4:15). And yes, he wants to make us stronger as the days go by (Eph. 3:16). Yet the new life that begins with Jesus’ work for us also continues by his work in us (Eph. 3:20).
Our growth and maturity as Christians are not targets that we are expected to achieve. They’re not even meant to be goals that we aim for with a little help from God. The way the Scriptures speak about our new life conveys something much deeper and more exciting than any self-improvement project. This is a life in and through Jesus—and following the pattern of his death and resurrection. In Galatians 2:20, Paul writes,
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.
Notice here the death of the old self as we share in Jesus’ crucifixion, and the coming to life of a brand-new self that shares in Jesus’ own resurrection life. The pattern of your new life is founded on these two steps. First, at the cross, you died. You were crucified with Christ. It is no longer the old, independent, self-centred you who lives. That sinful, dying life has been done away with for good. Second, at the cross, you received new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The old has gone, and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). You have been “born again” (John 3:3), and your new life is actually Jesus’ own life coursing through you.
Paul says that since you have been united with Jesus in his death, you will also be united with him in his resurrection, and able, even now, to “walk in newness of life” because of it (Rom. 6:4–5).1 On the other side of being crucified with Christ there is a new way of being that you could never have achieved yourself, nor even dreamed of. It is filled with fresh possibilities, new God-given abilities, and a glorious hope. Paul writes that this new life is animated by “faith,” a heartfelt trust in the one who loved you enough to lay down his life for you (see John 15:13). This new life can never go back to the old self-sufficiency or having to go it alone. Your new life is fuelled by knowing the love and faithfulness of the Lord, staying close to him, and gratefully receiving from him, day by day.
In other words, the Christian life is defined by Jesus, centred on Jesus, and it even begins to look like Jesus, in all his loveliness and goodness. It is not your own life, but his life being worked out in you. It is this way from day one, and will be this way right to the day when your race has been won.
And it will never stop feeling like kneeling at the cross in worship and wonder.
This article is an excerpt from Daniel Hames’ The New Life.
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