Crucified With Jesus, Free From The Know It All Life
Letting Jesus drive, resting in the new life that began when my old man was crucified with Him.
Devotional Credit: Living in the Garden of Grace, David Kuykendall, pp 12-13.
Photo Credit: Unsplash
When I slow down and linger over Romans 6:3, I am reminded that God accomplished something far deeper than clearing a record of sins. He united me with Jesus Himself. At the moment I believed, I was placed into Christ Jesus, and in that union God included me in the crucifixion of His Son. The cross was not only something Jesus experienced for me, it was something I shared in through Him, a real participation in His death that now shapes my new life.
Today’s reading from David Kuykendall unpacks two features of that shared crucifixion. First, the old man was crucified with Jesus. The “old man” is the person I was in Adam, shaped by the lie that I could be wise on my own, competent without God, able to run my life independently. That inner “know it all” posture, with all its patterns, drives, and self sourced solutions, is what Scripture calls the old man. God did not decide to improve that person. He put the old man on the cross with Jesus.
Second, we died to sin as a ruling principle. In this context, “sin” is not just bad behavior. It is that inward bent that says, “I know what is best, I can manage this by myself.” In Genesis 3 the desire to be wise apart from God entered the human race. Ever since, humanity has “professed to be wise” while walking away from the Source of wisdom. When God says we died to sin, He is saying that this inherited, self wise way of living no longer has rightful authority over us in Christ.
The author invites us to “reckon” or believe that this is already true. This is not about working hard to crucify ourselves. It is about trusting what God has already accomplished in Jesus and in our union with Him. All who are in Christ as members of His body share this history. Together we were crucified with Jesus, buried with Him, raised with Him, and now share His risen life. As we acknowledge this and rest in it, the Holy Spirit applies it in our daily choices so that we no longer live out of the old “know it all” patterns, but out of the life of Jesus within. I am grateful for the way this devotional puts language around that hidden but very real work of grace.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I am the Spirit of the living God who united you with My Son. When you first trusted Jesus as Lord, I did more than erase a list of failures. I placed you into Christ Jesus. In that union you were baptized into His death. His cross became your cross, His burial your burial, His rising your rising.
Your old man, the person you were in Adam, is not your truest self anymore. That old self was shaped by the lie that you could be wise apart from God. It leaned on its own understanding. It trusted its own insight. It wanted to decide good and evil on its own terms. I tell you plainly, that old man was crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, and you no longer have to live as a slave under that master.
When I say that you died to sin, I am not speaking about a perfectionist goal you must reach. I am declaring a fact of your history in My Son. You have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, therefore you shall also live with Him in the power of His resurrection life. Sin as a ruling power has lost its legal claim over you. You are no longer under its authority, you are under grace.
I invite you to reckon yourself dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. This reckoning is not pretend. It is faith embracing what I have already done. You are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come. Your true life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.
You are not left to manage the old patterns in your own strength. I live in you. I am the Spirit of Christ dwelling in your spirit. I set your mind on the things above, not on the self wise reasoning below. I work in you both the willing and the doing according to My good pleasure. As you walk by Me, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.
So when that “know it all” attitude rises up, when you sense the urge to prove yourself right, to control the outcome, to insist on your own way, remember who you are. You are in Christ. Christ is in you. Your old man was crucified. You have died, and your life is now in Me. Agree with Me about this. Present yourself to Me as one who is alive from the dead. I am faithful. I will express the risen life of Jesus through you, and the patterns of the old man will lose their grip as you abide in Me.
Real Life Analogy
Imagine you are sitting in a car with the engine running high. The dashboard lights are on, the radio is loud, and your hand is gripping the gear shift, ready to dart into traffic your own way. You are tense, alert, convinced you see the best gap in the cars around you. Then you remember you are not the driver. A calm and capable driver sits in the seat beside you, keys in hand, fully licensed, fully trustworthy.
Letting go of the gear shift and sliding out of the driver’s seat does not move the car a single inch at first, but it changes everything. The engine is the same, the road is the same, the traffic is the same. What has changed is who directs the car. You have moved from managing everything yourself to trusting the one who knows the road perfectly. The journey becomes different because the driver is different.
Our old man loved the driver’s seat. Even though the old man was crucified with Christ once for all, the lingering patterns that belonged to him, which Scripture calls the flesh, still echo that old “I know best, I see what needs to happen, I can manage this” attitude. The cross of Jesus declares that the old man’s driver’s license has been permanently revoked. In Jesus, the Father placed the keys into the hands of His Son, and by the Holy Spirit the Son now lives in you to guide the movement of your life from within.
Today, when you notice that inner urge to push your way through a conversation, to insist on the last word at work, or to argue your opinions at home until others finally give up, picture your hand resting on that gear shift. Instead of trying to improve yourself by sheer willpower, you can quietly say, “Lord, I trust You to be the One who responds through me in this moment. I surrender the driver’s seat to You.” Then you watch for how the indwelling Spirit of Jesus expresses patience, gentleness, or quietness through you in ways you recognize as His life, not the old patterns that once defined you.
Prayer of Confidence
Lord, thank You that in Christ my old man was crucified. I praise You that I am no longer the person I was in Adam, clinging to that “know it all” life that tries to run everything without You. In Jesus, You included me in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Thank You that I have died to sin as a ruling power and that I am now alive to You in Christ Jesus. I affirm that my true life is hidden with Christ in You. I thank You that I am a new creation, that the old has passed away, and that You Yourself live in me by Your Spirit.
I agree with Your verdict about me. I count myself dead to sin and alive to You. I thank You that I do not have to crucify myself or fix myself. You have already put the old man on the cross in Jesus, and You now express His life in me.
Today, when that inner “I know best” voice arises, I rest in what You have done. I thank You that the risen life of Jesus is more than sufficient for every conversation, every decision, every hidden motive of my heart. You began this good work in me, and You will carry it on to completion. I rejoice that I belong to You, united with Your Son forever.
Beautiful List Of Scripture References For The Voice Of The Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Romans 6:2-6, Romans 6:11, Romans 6:3, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:14, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:1-4, Colossians 2:11-13, Ephesians 2:4-6, Romans 8:9-11, Philippians 2:13, Galatians 5:16-18, 1 Corinthians 1:30