The New Standard

I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

Galatians 2:20 (CEV)

Are you embarrassed by your past or proud of it? Do you just wish you could be free of yesterday so you could live boldly today?

Paul thought he was doing everything right. He was a religious man, zealous for God. He went to the right school, was respected as a leader in the Jewish church, and followed all the rules. He even persecuted those he thought were going against God!

But then, he met Jesus. Paul realized Jesus held a different standard. Everything he had done amounted to nothing in God’s eyes; he was still hopelessly unholy. His only chance was to accept Jesus’s death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin and be forgiven by Jesus. Jesus was the only way for Paul to be made perfect before God.

You might think, “But Paul did so much good in his life . . . doesn’t that count for something?”

There are a lot of good things we can do. Go to church, volunteer, help a neighbor, serve our country, listen to our parents. But the truth is that we don’t earn salvation through the good things we do. The only way to be saved is by turning over our lives to Jesus, God’s one and only Son.

When you make that decision, your old life is dead and gone. Jesus comes into your heart and you begin a new life with Christ! Are you ready for that today? He is waiting for you!

SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING

Write or draw what each of these key words in today’s verse mean to you.

• died
• Christ
• lives
• faith
• loved
• gave
• me

INSPIRATION

“The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for his people.”

—A.W. Tozer, American pastor and author in the 1950s-60s

KEEP IT GOING

Related passages: These additional verses will help you expand Scriptural knowledge and place on the armor of God’s Word to tackle each day. Refer to the tabbed Bible references to read the passages today.

Psalm 51:1–2

Psalm 51:17

Romans 6:6

Colossians 2:20a