Devotional Thoughts for Christians***
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:6 – ESV)
Beloved, pause for a moment and behold the glorious truth hidden in these words: Your old self was crucified with Christ!
Not will be crucified. Not is being crucified. But WAS crucified!
When Jesus hung upon that cross at Calvary, God included you in His death. The old self—that fallen, self-centered life that seeks to live independently of God—was brought to the cross with Him.
The cross is not a possibility to pursue; it is a divine fact to believe.
We do not die with Christ little by little through our own striving. We cannot accomplish this death through prayer, self-discipline, or religious effort. God has already accomplished what we could never achieve.
When Christ died, our old self died with Him. His death was once for all, and our union with Him is a finished reality.
How often do we pray, “Lord, crucify my old self! Lord, help me die to myself!” Yet Scripture invites us to see something far more wonderful: God has already included our old self in the death of His Son.
We don’t need to ask God to accomplish what He has already accomplished. We need our spiritual eyes opened to behold it, our hearts awakened to believe it, and our lips moved to praise Him for it!
But why is seeing this truth so important?
Because as long as we depend on our natural, self-directed life, we remain trapped in the exhausting struggle of trying to please God through human strength.
The flesh cannot produce the righteousness God desires. As Romans 7:18 declares, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” (ESV)
Our natural abilities, determination, religious zeal, and even our best intentions cannot become the source of true spiritual life.
God does not intend to improve the old self so that it can please Him. He has judged the old self at the cross so that we may live through Christ.
What a glorious deliverance!
The very self that struggles, fails, boasts, fears, and insists upon its own way has already been brought under the judgment of the cross.
This does not mean that temptation disappears or that we never struggle again. Rather, sin no longer has the rightful mastery it once held over us. We are now free to yield ourselves to God and walk by His Spirit.
Faith does not create Christ’s finished work. Faith simply receives what God has already accomplished.
We are not struggling toward crucifixion; we are standing upon its accomplished reality.
We are not trying to manufacture a holy life out of our old nature; we are learning to live by the life of the risen Christ within us.
So when the old self seeks to rise again—demanding its own way, defending its pride, or trusting its own strength—remember what God has declared:
“That old self you are struggling to overcome has already been crucified with Christ!”
Do not make the old self your source of strength. Do not allow its failures to define your identity. Look away from yourself and behold the Savior who has delivered you.
For the secret of a victorious Christian life is not found in trying harder to make the old self holy, but in reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
At Calvary, our old life met its judgment. In the risen Christ, our new life begins.
And now, we may live—not by the strength of self, but by the grace, power, and indwelling life of Jesus Christ.
Pause to Reflect:
Have I been striving to crucify an old self that God declares was already crucified with Christ?
Am I still relying on my natural strength to please God, instead of trusting Christ’s life within me?
Today, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the finished work of the cross. Let this truth move from mere knowledge into living faith.
I was crucified with Christ. My old self no longer has the final word. Christ is my life now!
Parting Thought:
The cross is not where we struggle to die; it is where God declares that our old self has already died with Christ.
Stop striving to accomplish what Jesus has already finished. Believe what God has declared, reckon it true, and walk in the freedom of His risen life.
Our freedom begins not when we finally overcome ourselves, but when we see that God has already dealt with our old self through the cross of His Son.
The old self was crucified. The power of sin was broken. And now, Christ Himself is our life!
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for the glorious and finished work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that when He died upon the cross, my old self was crucified with Him. What I could never accomplish through my own effort, You have already accomplished through Your grace.
Lord, forgive me for the many times I have depended upon my own strength, determination, and natural abilities to live a life pleasing to You. Open my spiritual eyes to see that my old self has already been judged at Calvary. Teach me to stop striving in the flesh and to rest in the truth of Your Word.
Holy Spirit, make this revelation living and real in my heart. Teach me to reckon myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. May I no longer live under the dominion of the old self, but walk daily in the freedom, holiness, and power of Christ’s resurrection life.
Not my strength, not my striving, not my old self—but Christ living in me!
In the precious and victorious name of Jesus, Amen.
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