Living Crucified with Christ: The Power of Galatians 2:20 in Daily Life

Dying to ourselves can feel like a bad thing.

• In a world that teaches us to promote ourselves, chase success, and seek recognition, the idea of letting go, of dying to who we are, sounds completely upside down.

  • But in God’s Kingdom, it’s the only way to truly live. Because the invitation to die… is actually an invitation to life. 

When we give our lives to God, we’re surrendering our plans, our desires, and even our gift, not because they’re bad, but because we trust Him to do something greater with them.

• We’re saying, “God, I don’t want to live for me anymore, I want to live for You.”

  • That kind of surrender isn’t easy. It means letting go of control. It means choosing faith over fear. It means believing that the life He’s building is far better than the one we’re trying to create on our own.

But this is the beautiful part, on the other side of surrender is renewal.

• God realigns our plans, reshapes our desires, and repurposes our gifts so that they reflect His glory, not ours. He takes what was broken, selfish, or aimless and gives it purpose, direction, and life.

  • The Apostle Paul knew this well. Once a man who persecuted believers, Paul encountered Jesus, and everything changed. He went from taking lives to giving his own for the Gospel. That’s what dying to self looks like: letting the old you fade away so Christ can live through you.

    
    

And if we think about it… even Jesus Himself didn’t step into resurrection without first going through the cross. Death had to come before new life. And the same goes for you, too.

Sometimes what feels like the end is actually the beginning, because when we die to ourselves, that’s when God breathes new life into who we’re becoming.