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. – Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
When we’re young we’re full of vim and vigor. We think we can do anything. Then, as we get older we find out that we can’t do life very well in our own wisdom. As Christians, we learn about the need to die to our own way of living so that Christ can be our life.
I am either my own life-source or the Spirit of God is my life-source. I can’t have it both ways.
Hope you enjoy this poem about trying to live a “good life” in our own power and the need to die to self to live as Christ.
The Picture of a Lonely Man
The picture of a lonely man
Trying to live as best he can
With all the wisdom he can bring
To help him reach the golden ring
But we bear sins’ painful curse
Our guilt and toil then makes it worse
We strain and work for life each today
We strive for light beyond the gray
Pain and tears consume my bed
Work no longer moves this dread
Do your best and make a list
Complete your tasks so none are missed!
Tis awful hard to live this way
Where empty feelings tend to stay
And follow close at every turn
As I tumble in life’s churn
Yet Calvary is my daily place
Where sin dissolves without a trace
Where I can bring my troubled flesh
Where I am freed from this world’s mesh
I must die anew each day
Take up my cross along the way
To live the life He’s meant for me
And only then be truly free
For when I die He comes to reign
And makes me pure, no longer stained
Live through me oh holy One
Help me die and freely run.
WGS 3.31.22
