In life, the best way to get points on the board is to crucify the flesh. Our life should be like a grain of wheat that is sown into the ground (John 12:24-26). Before it can bring forth the fruit it is supposed to bring forth, the seed must die.
If you want to have a fulfilling life, it will require the crucifixion of your flesh. Before He went to the cross, Jesus was put on trial by religious folks. It still amazes me when I read over the account of Jesus and His encounter with Pontius Pilate. Pilate didn't know what to do with Jesus.
In fact, Pilate barely got a word from Jesus in response to the accusations that were hurled against Him. I'm sure he was disturbed with Jesus, yet he couldn't find any fault with Him. Pilate knew he was being motivated by an angry mob to the point he illustrated the washing of his hands from innocent blood.
He wanted his hands free from the Blood of Jesus. The angry mob said, "His Blood is on us and our children" (Matt. 27:25).
Jesus was secure about His life and the purpose of His death. He didn't need to come to His defenses against persecution, because God was His refuge. When someone is secure about the life he or she is supposed to live, it really doesn't matter what others say.
The opinions of others have no comparison to pleasing our Heavenly Father. In pleasing Him, we close the mouth of the gainsayers. Pleasing Him is, and should be, the number one priority of every believer.
Unjust and unkind words do hurt, but the rewards of obedience far outweigh the opposition of others. It is going to require the crucifixion of the flesh to please our Heavenly Father.
Jesus could have very easily talked His way out of His death. However, in doing so, He would have directed His way out of the direction for His Life. His purpose was to die so that others might live. In loving you and me, he chose to die; yet He most certainly lives.
If you only knew that was your purpose too! (Gal. 2:20)
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not cursed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.If we would die (crucify the flesh), we would more than live. All the living you want to do is qualified by death—the crucifixion of the flesh. Jesus died so He could live in you and me. Now, His life completes our lives.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal body. So then death is working in us, but life in you.
(2 Cor. 4:8-12)
Likewise, so must we die to sin and live for Him.
The best test of all this can be found in the borders of your home. This was brought to my attention a number of years ago. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that the dimension of death (the death of my flesh) in me would be the degree of life in my wife.
The life in my wife is in direct correlation to how dead I have become. How dead to the flesh are you? Do you always have to have the last say? Are you bent on having it your way? Are you so one-sided on being right that you can't acknowledge when you are wrong?
Harmony in our home consists of a husband and a wife living to please each other.
There's very little rapport in the household of the wife whose best friend can be found at the ladies' weekly Bible study.
There can't be much symmetry in the household of the man who puts more stock in the words of his associates on the golf course, or his co-workers at the local gym. The life of our marriages is based on the crucifixion of our flesh.
Have you really died, that your husband might live? Have you put to death your flesh that your wife might have a little heaven on earth?
The Bible says, "...but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live" (Rom. 8:13).
And, in Colossians 3:3,5 we find: "For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God....Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth...."
I am putting a great deal of emphasis on the home life, because the Church is made up of homes. But the crucifixion of the flesh extends way beyond the borders of marriage—it should apply to our entire existence!
It is our responsibility to give The Holy Spirit the opportunity to work in our lives. The Holy Spirit within us will not be a dictator to us. He will be a strengthener; one called alongside to help us. If we don't give Him something to work with, He can't help us.
We must learn to follow the flow of The Holy Spirit in our spirits. He is in our spirit waiting for us to yield our flesh to His Power. He will not force Himself upon you; He must be invited to have communion with you.
To live, one must die—crucify the flesh. Pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Him.
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Anthony N. Wade gave his life to The Lord Jesus Christ in 1973 and along with his wife, has been serving in ministry for decades.
