The Way
Monday, April 20, 2026 | He Lives in Me
– 2 min read
Scripture
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
The Story
Paul does not say: I am trying to live like Christ. He says: Christ lives in me.
The verb is present tense. The crucifixion is past tense. The old self — the one that was performing, striving, keeping score, trying to earn what it could not earn — has already died. What is alive now is something different. Someone different. The life Paul is living in his body is not his own effort dressed up in religious language. It is Christ himself, living through a person who has stopped trying to do it alone.
This is the interior reality that Sunday's distinction points toward. Not a code being performed. A person living within. The resurrection is not just a historical event to be believed. It is a present reality to be inhabited.
The Way Before You
The question this verse asks is one of the most diagnostic in the New Testament: whose life are you living?
There is a version of the Christian life that is exhausting because it is fundamentally self-powered. The person is trying very hard to live up to a standard, to perform the right behaviors, to be the kind of Christian they are supposed to be. The effort is real. The sincerity is genuine. But the source is wrong. It is the old self trying to do what only the indwelling Christ can do.
Paul has already settled this. The old self is crucified. What is alive now is not an improved version of the former person — it is Christ himself, present and active, living through a body that has been surrendered to him. The life you are living today is either your own project or his. The distinction matters more than almost anything else in the Christian life.
You carry a living faith because you carry a living Lord. Not a memory. Not a model. Not a moral standard to aspire toward. A person who is present, who loves you, and who gave himself for you. That is what is alive in you right now.
Live from it.
Reflection
Is the life you are living today your own project dressed in Christian language — or are you living from the reality that Christ is already present and active within you?
Prayer
Lord, I confess that I often live as though the old self is still in charge — performing, striving, trying to earn what you have already given. Remind me today that I have been crucified with you. The life I am living is yours. You loved me and gave yourself for me. That is enough. Let me live from that today. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Walking in The Way — Today's Step ⭐
Today I will: Identify one area where I am living from my own effort rather than from the reality that Christ is alive in me — and surrender it.
I will watch for: The moment I feel the exhaustion of self-powered Christianity — and let that be the signal to remember: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Learn more about The Guardians' Cross → theguardianscross.org
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