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 (Galatians 2:20).

Dear Reader,

I had no intention of writing a Connect Devotional just now. Although it is January, the month my 4-month “leave-of-absence” was scheduled to end, recuperating from an operation was going to delay that. 

But then the Connect Devotional preparatory notes on Galatians 2:20 arrived in my inbox.

Galatians 2:20—a truth that has puzzled, then captivated, and, lately, become more real in my life in unsettling, profound, needed, and, gradually, welcome ways.

Decades ago, I “died” (the way Paul talks about dying) one night by simply saying, “Ok, God. I’ll try it again.” The next morning I awoke alive to the reality that Jesus was my Best Friend.

Looking back, I see that that was a death to the ways I had decided would fulfill my needs, ways that wouldn’t, and couldn’t, ever accomplish such a thing—especially since I didn’t even know what my needs really were. Gratefully I didn’t have to have that all figured out then, I just had to say “yes” to The One I had only known about Who all along wanted me to know Him personally. 

Often since then, and perhaps most especially in these past months, I have understood that Jesus wants to keep freeing me from residual self-stuff, stuff that keeps me from fully shifting into the kind of living He died for me to have. 

Specifically, I have needed to die to pressuring myself to manage life on my own.

It isn’t that managing is wrong, it is that depending on myself to know how to manage leaves Jesus out of the picture. When Jesus is in the picture, when I have shifted my faith from myself to Him, being alert to His promptings and following through on them, Life happens. It’s a shift in the right direction for sure.

I’m convinced it takes a lifetime for us children of God to even become aware of all the ways we do life our own way. I’m also convinced God’s patience means He’ll never stop coaxing us to shift from trusting ourselves to trusting Him. You may want to ask Him to show you a way you are still putting your faith in yourself and decide whether you want to make the shift to putting that faith in Him.