I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Live Dependent Upon His Faithfulness.

“Christ liveth in me”; what then may I expect as the effect of such an amazing fact? Here a brief explanation is needed. The Greek word pistis means either “faith” or “faithfulness” as the sense requires. For example, in Romans 3:3 “the faith of God” doesn’t make sense, so the revisers render it rightly, “the faithfulness of God.” Again, in Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is … faith”; but the revisers, rightly, say “faithfulness.”

Applying the test in Galatians 2:20, we see at once that to “live by the faith of (or in) the Son of God” is out of harmony with the sense: (1) Christ lives in me; this would place Him outside of me as an object of faith; (2) The secret of living is “no longer I”; yet this would make the “life that I now live” very much dependent upon something I do. But when I see that it is His faithfulness —not mine —His faithfulness in me, how the light breaks. My, what a resource! Just what I need. All within my own person, for the re-making of my personality!

“Now I live by His faithfulness” —in me and to me. He is the Faithful One. “Great is Thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:23) —all on the inside of me —in dealing with me, with my weakness, my failures, my foolishness and foibles, all the quirks in my nature. Say, “now” —the “now” in our verse —now I’ve got something! Now I can really live. He has been dealing with human nature for 6,000 years —nothing new to Him in my problems.

I have, perchance, a hasty temper. It has shamed me often. I have fought it for years. “Now” I turn it over to my Faithful One; He cares for it, and it is gone. Miracle? Yes; but I have found the art of real living. Or, let’s say, I have a sharp, ugly tongue. How it has hurt even my best friends. I have tried so hard to “tame it” —an impossibility according to James 3:8. But Christ —my Christ —is right there, back of the tongue. I commit it to Him. “Now” it’s tamed —He did it. What a relief! I’ve learned how to live! There’s not a department of my life, not a habit of carelessness, or undependableness, not a tendency to tardiness, nor anything unbecoming a Christian, but Christ’s faithfulness corrects and covers it all. I have found the sought-for secret of living; it is just counting on Him who lives in me. I have something to “tell the world”!

“Future Unlimited”

Recently in my travels, I was handed a booklet with the above title. As one reads, he is intrigued with the beautiful illustrations and recital of the resources of a certain western state, all its mineral, agricultural and scenic possibilities and attractions. This is just the caption the Christian can place over His life when he discovers the resources that are his for living —Christ living in him. “No longer I” —with my failures; “but Christ” —with limitless resources, knowledge, power, patience, love, skill —all I lack and all I need —all these in Him, and He in me.

Dear friend, your future is unlimited — limited only by the degree to which you limit Him. Any future failure is simply the failure to let Him live out His faithfulness in you. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” — displaying this ability in us personally — but it is “according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20), that is, the degree of freedom we accord Him. The art of living is to give Him unlimited freedom to exercise His faithfulness in us. Possess your possessions and your future is assured.

From "His Side Versus Our Side" by Norman B. Harrison

-Daniel