In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul teaches a profound lesson about the power of surrendering, the power of giving up and submitting ourselves to the will of God. He shares a testimony of his personal Christian experience. He writes:
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 ESV
Writing as a living man, Paul’s reference to being “crucified with Christ” should obviously not to be taken literally; but there was something that took place in Jesus’ experience on the cross which Paul went through as well. When we undergo the same experience, like Paul, we too will be able to testify of the experience of Christ living in us.
What does it mean, however, to be crucified with Christ?
On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus had an interaction with God the Father which gives us insight into what being “crucified” with Him entails. That evening, Jesus went up to pray on the Mount of Olives, as He usually did many times before. With His disciples following Him, He then asked them to “pray that [they] may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:39).
Soon after this, Jesus Himself prayed a very significant prayer:
“He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done.” Luke 22:41-42 NKJV
In Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane, He prayed for strength to do the will of His Father above His own will. While He was struggling with the temptation to withdraw from His mission of facing the cross, Jesus submitted Himself entirely to the will of God the Father. He chose to surrender to the will of God, despite how eager He was to not have to go through the pain of the cross. It’s important to emphasize this point: Jesus surrendered Himself to do the will of His Father, above His own will!
It was not the first time that Jesus made such a surrender.
Christ’s act of full submission to the will of His Father was the daily experience of His life. For instance, He had mentioned to the disciples that “My meat ([or the thing that keeps Me going]) is to do the will of Him that sent Me” (John 4:34).
This was the case in Gethsemane as well. When Christ was crucified He had surrendered His will entirely to the will of His Father once again. Jesus had made the conscious decision to choose God’s way as supreme. To be crucified with Christ means that we are to have the same experience: to choose the will of God and to submit wholeheartedly to it.
Very often, being crucified with Christ comes at the denial of our own selfish wants, so that we, like Jesus, would have to say: “not my will, but Your will be done.” Jesus illustrates principle when He shows the relationship between self denial and being crucified. He outlines this when He says:
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23 NKJV
When Jesus was on the cross, He had denied Himself for the sake of humanity. On the cross, He was carrying out what He had chosen in the garden of Gethsemane, when He chose to surrender His will to the will of His Father. This is the real experience of taking up the cross and being crucified – it is the experience of deny oneself and choose the will of God.
The Power of Surrendering
Immediately after Jesus had surrendered in the Garden of Gethsemane (where He prayed “not My will but Yours be done”), Luke continues to describe a very significant point:
“Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Luke 22:43 NKJV
When, through pain and sacrifice, Jesus had surrendered Himself to the Father He then received all the strength He needed to carry out what He was appointed to do! From the moment Christ chose the will of God, above His own will, angels were sent to empower Him to carry out the task. Only upon surrendering did Jesus then receive the strength required to follow through with His mission, and He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8).
Here is the secret of receiving strength and grace from heaven in order to obey; it is in making a total surrender of oneself to the will of God. The needed power comes from choosing His way above our own and being willing to say, “not my will, but Yours be done.”
Paul’s expression, “I am crucified with Christ,” is the expression of his personal, total submission to the will of God. When Paul reviewed his life, he was confident that his life was fully surrendered to God’s will. He was aware that he had chosen to follow God’s will above his own. This was the reason behind Paul’s confidence that Christ lived in him.
When we wholeheartedly surrender ourselves to the will of God, when we take up our cross daily by praying the prayer “not my will but thine be done” we will then be empowered to carry out the will of God. It is when we are thus “crucified with Christ” where we can gain the confidence to say with Paul, “Christ lives in me.”
Strength comes through surrender!
