The gospel calls every person without exception to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. To call on His name, to turn, to repent—this remains the message of power for the world. Yet for those who have believed, another reality stands as the most vital truth they will ever grasp. It does not tweak the Christian life or add a percentage to it. It transforms the Christian life from the inside out. It is the difference between constant effort that never satisfies and a life that rests in what Christ has already accomplished.
## The Historical Fact Of Crucifixion With Christ
As written in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.”
Paul chose his words with precision. He did not say he was being crucified or that he would be crucified one day. He declared a past event, a completed action. The crucifixion with Christ stands as historical fact, finished and done. When I lived in France years ago, I had to learn the language. In the process I returned to English grammar so I could understand French grammar. One of the simplest French past tenses describes events that occurred and concluded. They are over. Paul wrote with that same clarity. The crucifixion with Christ is not a process still unfolding. It is finished.
This changes everything about how the verse is read. Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by the faith of the Son of God. Not merely faith placed in Him, but by the faith that belongs to Him—the faith of the One who loved me and gave Himself for me. The old self that strove and failed has been dealt with at the cross. A new reality has taken its place.
## The Imitation Model That Shapes So Much Christian Thinking
Many believers carry a model of the Christian life that centers on imitation. A person hears the gospel, repents, believes, and is born again. From that point the task becomes learning to imitate Jesus. The goal is to walk as He walked, to become more like Him through steady discipline and practice. Over years of effort, restraint, and hard work the believer is expected to grow into greater Christlikeness. This process is often called sanctification.
The model sounds reasonable. It explains why so many sincere people live with a quiet sense that they are never quite enough. They compare themselves to the sinless Son of God and see the distance. They feel they have let Him down again. Some dull their awareness of sin. Others justify it or push it out of sight. Most simply carry a steady load of guilt and spiritual tiredness. The unspoken solution offered is always the same: try harder. Read more. Pray more. Resist more. The message, stated or implied, is that greater effort will eventually close the gap.
Bad doctrine does not cause God to reject a person. Every believer’s understanding remains imperfect. Yet bad doctrine can cause a person to turn away from God in exhaustion or quiet despair. The imitation model, left uncorrected, produces exactly that outcome for many sincere hearts.
## The Surprising Source Of Ongoing Struggle
How much effort are you expending to be a good Christian? When that question is asked, most believers immediately think of what they should do more of. The assumption is that the shortfall comes from insufficient trying. Yet the opposite is true. The difficulties in the Christian life do not arise from a lack of effort. They arise from the effort itself.
Hudson Taylor knew this struggle firsthand. He served in China with visible success. Hundreds worked alongside him. The mission grew. The wider Christian world regarded him as a hero of faith. Inside, Taylor lived with deep shame and condemnation. He saw his own sin with painful clarity and could not escape the sense that he was failing the holy God he loved. He tried every approach available in his day—more discipline, more striving, more careful living drawn from the strong Puritan emphasis on personal holiness. The result was exhaustion so complete that he nearly left the ministry. He could not live the Christian life he knew he should live.
Then a letter arrived. The simple truth it contained altered everything. Taylor saw that he was dead and that his life was hidden with Christ in God. If he was dead, why was he still trying to produce life through his own strength? The realization broke the pattern of striving that had nearly destroyed him.
## The Counterintuitive Path Into Rest
The same pattern repeats in countless lives. Believers double their efforts, add new disciplines, and tighten their resolve, yet the sense of distance from God grows rather than shrinks. The reason is not mysterious once it is seen. Near the speed of light, additional speed does not come from additional effort in the way ordinary experience suggests. The closer an object moves to that limit, the more energy is required to move it even a fraction faster. At the limit itself, infinite energy would be needed. Human effort in the Christian life follows a similar pattern. The harder a person strives in personal strength to achieve what only Christ can give, the more impossible the goal becomes.
The Christian life is not about striving. It is about resting. Jesus has finished the work. The old self that could never please God has been crucified with Him. The new creation lives by the faith of the Son of God. The practical step is to release the grip that keeps us trapped—like the monkey whose hand remains caught in the jar because it will not let go of the peanuts. Ministry leaders often find this release especially difficult. The work is visible, the needs are endless, and the pressure to produce results through personal effort feels constant. Yet the release is the same for every believer. Let go of the striving. Step into the finished work of Christ.
If this truth is comprehended and embraced, the Christian life moves from exhaustion into the flourishing God intends. Growth becomes possible. The person God desires emerges. If this truth is missed, the striving continues and the transformation never arrives. The difference is that clear.
Selah
**Scriptures for Study**
Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:3, Romans 6:4, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:11, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 1:3, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:2, Hebrews 4:9, Hebrews 4:10, Matthew 11:28, Matthew 11:29, John 15:4, John 15:5, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 1:21, Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 4:22, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 2:6, Colossians 2:7, 1 John 4:17, Romans 5:17, 2 Peter 1:4
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. What effort have you been expending to live the Christian life, and what has that effort produced in your soul?
2. How does the statement “I have been crucified with Christ” challenge the way you currently view your daily walk with God?
3. In what areas have you assumed that more trying or more discipline would finally close the gap between who you are and who you long to be?
4. Where in your life does the imitation model still operate, even if you have never named it that way?
5. What would change if you truly accepted that your old self is not being improved but has already been crucified?
6. How does the story of Hudson Taylor expose patterns that may still be present in your own approach to following Jesus?
7. When you consider the speed-of-light illustration, where do you see yourself still pushing harder in your own strength rather than resting in what Christ has finished?
8. What would it look like, practically, to release the “peanuts” you are gripping in the jar of Christian effort?
9. How does living by the faith of the Son of God differ from living by your own faith in Him?
10. If this truth about union with Christ were settled in your heart, what one area of striving would you lay down first?
