Living the Crucified Life

“Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Galatians 2:16-20

Living the “crucified life” is a life of complete surrender, depicted rather well in the thoughts of George MacDonald:

“I said: Let me walk in the field.
God said: Nay, walk in the town.
I said: There are no flowers there.
He said: No flowers, but a crown.

I said: But the sky is black, there is nothing but noise and din.
But He wept as He sent me back, ‘There is more,’ He said.
‘There is sin.’

I said: But the air is thick, and fogs are veiling the sun.
He answered: Yet souls are sick, and souls in the dark undone.

I said: I shall miss the light, and friends will miss me, they say.
He answered me: Choose tonight, if I am to miss you, or they.

I pleaded for time to be given;
He said: Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven to have followed the steps of your Guide.

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said: My child, do you yield? Will you leave the flowers for the crown?

Then into His hand went mine,
and into my heart came He;
And I walk a light Divine,
the path I had feared to see.”