I No Longer Live?

One of my friends has a nice collection of vintage cartoon characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam.  One day, we got to talking about the fact that some of these characters represent personal or cultural trends.

For example, we moved back to California several years ago and now live close to Yosemite National Park.  As it turns out, the fiercely independent way of life captured in Yosemite Sam actually exists among the “mountain people” who live here.  They are a “do it yourself” culture.  There was an older woman who lived in our neighborhood who cut her own wood, worked her land, killed rattlesnakes, etc. even into her later years. She didn’t want help—even when she needed it, and even when offered.

I would propose that this attitude runs deep in American culture, all the way back to the American Revolution. We are a deeply independent “do it my way” people, as Frank Sinatra famously sung.

But as believers, we are called to humble ourselves, submit to God and others, live in community according to the “one another” statements, and love one another in practical ways.

Can you see how Yosemite Sam’s approach is in contrast with who we are “in Christ” and how we live?  This is more subtle than we think because it is our Western, American world view. In other words, it is the cultural water that we swim in.  It is the cultural air that we breath.  And it is probably the reason I have never been able to make sense of Paul’s stark statement in Galatians 2:20 which reads:

“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.”

No, I want to live my own life.  What is this all about, this “I no longer live?”  And if I understand it, do I really even want to live that way?  Would I be willing to submit? These are key questions for a life in Christ.

Intellectually, we know we are not really in charge anyway. We don’t determine very much about our lives.  I just heard today of a pastor who died in a lawnmower accident.  We have friends who are alive only because the truck that hit them was 3 inches to the left. I have many of my own stories, as you do as well.  More importantly, we serve someone.  We don’t have the real choice to live like Yosemite Sam.  Our rebellion is just a choice to serve the enemy, and it makes a mockery of our choice to serve God.

Let’s go back and start with basics.  What God wants for us is our best.  He is not only a God to be feared, but a God who loves us beyond measure.  He doesn’t only act in a loving way; He actually is love.  So, we can trust him and humble ourselves before him.  Doing so brings our lives into line with reality.  It brings us to a position of health and strength.  

When we invite Christ to come into our lives, He does.  What that means is that we are no longer just one person.  In Christ, we are two persons.  But it is even more complex.  As believers, we are united with the Trinity and so have connection to all persons of the Trinity through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Paul, then, has recognized this relationship and has chosen to let Jesus lead.  He has chosen to die to his old self, his old flesh patterns.  In doing so, it is Christ who remains.  And the beauty of Christ shines out more fully.  So it will with us as well.