+ Living for Christ: In the Light of His Suffering and Death +

Have you seen one of the latest trends in tattoo fashion?  It’s hard not to notice when the person in the checkout line has emblazoned their deceased family member’s name across their shoulders.  It’s easy to be turned off by this fad – and not because you might find tattoos less than attractive.  Obviously, the tattoo’s there for a reason. Is its bearer hoping that strangers will make polite conversation about the departed person?  Is the tattoo sentimental?  Is it to show how much that person meant to them?  Maybe they are trying to show that they are living for someone who had died.

Paul proposes something similar in his letter to the Galatians: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Paul isn’t saying that we should remember someone who died, but someone who died for us.  Jesus’ death wasn’t just one of the many deaths that occur each day.  His death was in payment for our sins.  His suffering and death was for us.

Jesus had to die to pay for our sins.  There was no other way for Him to be our Savior.  If He didn’t die, then we would die eternally.  But His great love caused Him to lay down His life for us.  It is His love that changes us so that we want to live for Christ.

Christ’s suffering and death caused Paul to want to live for Him.  Paul didn’t need a tattoo on his shoulder.  He knew that Jesus’ sacrifice could be made visible in his daily life. The Lord made Paul’s life remarkable through things like shipwrecks, imprisonment, and execution!  How does God want you to make Jesus visible?
We’re usually so good at blending in. Christians don’t wear a standard-issue team shirt. The only One who truly knows that we’re Christians is in heaven above. His miraculous washing saved us from real death.  His earthly life fulfilled the pitiful weaknesses of ours. And His death gives us the context for living.  And still, even lifelong Christians find it easier to talk about a departed grandparent than our Brother Jesus, who died, but lives!

Will some people think you’re strange when your daily life shows the Savior who suffered and died? You bet! Are you ready to show your neighbors that He is alive in you?  Are you willing to honor His death by getting into some awkward conversations? If you don’t know where to start, read the Bible and learn some more about how our Lord directed Paul’s adventurous life.  Let the words of the Author of Life wash over you as He directs you, comforts you, and prepares you for a life in the context of our Brother’s death. “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.” Galatians 2:20. Keep those words near and dear to your heart as you live for the Son of God, whose death won true Life for us all!