A Different Me

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.

                        Galatians 2.20

 

A number of years ago, I was memorizing two verses a week for a Bible study I was teaching.  For that certain morning, one of the verses we memorized and recited was Galatians 2.20.  But it turned out not just an exercise in memorization.  Hidden in my heart, God’s Word began changing me from the inside out.  My cell phone rang in the middle of the lesson.  I had to leave Bible study early because of a plumber who had suddenly shown up to complete some work left undone days ago.  As I drove home, I began to get a little irritated that I had to leave my meeting.  At the stoplight, God’s words rose to the surface of my irritation, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  Those words repeated themselves over and over in my thoughts as I drove…”but Christ who lives in me.”  And as a result, I did not just think differently about my encounter with the plumber, but I began to think Christianly.  I was able to take care of the situation with an entirely different mindset, one that was not mine.  It became not a confrontation, but a conversation.

The other day facing yet another awkward and stressful situation, I could feel anxiety rising within me, just thinking about what I needed to do.  But in my morning Bible reading, there were those same words again, “but Christ who lives in me.”  God once again caught my attention.  And I was able to look at my day with different eyes, different ears, and a different heart.  If Christ lives in me, nothing can be the same.  He transforms how I approach and handle everything I encounter, because He changes me.  He changes my heart, what I see, how I see it, what I think, why I think that way, how to think about a particular situation, what I hear, how I respond, what I love, how I love, and even my ability to love. 

My operating system is no longer based on self, “but Christ who lives in me.”

It is not that I am focused on Him,

              but He changes my focus

                            by changing me.