You CAN Go to Your Own Funeral

I have some thoughts about what it means to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal.5.24).

On this subject Oswald Chambers comments, “we must abandon sin, have nothing to do with it. Sin belongs to hell…it is not a question of giving up on sin but rather giving up my right to myself…my self-will…this is where my battle is…” Chambers seems to echo what Paul once wrote, “I have discovered when I want to do right, I inevitably do wrong...this power within me makes me a slave to sin that is still within me” (Ro. 7.21).

On another occasion Chambers writes with even greater clarity as he says, “The entrance to the kingdom of God is through sudden pain--a collision with repentance”. The repentance of which Chambers speaks comes when there is a conviction of sin, of error, of wrong attitude, wrong behavior, things spoken and things heard only by God; things withheld from others and things given to others but only with ulterior motives. It has been my experience that confession without conviction results in short lived promises, selective memories and secretive compromised living. An old proverb states it this way, "A dog goes back to its vomit," and "A sow that has been washed goes back to roll around in the mud." (2 Pt. 2.22). It is the authentic conviction of sin and the corresponding and almost certain breaking of the heart that advances and produces an authentic and conscious repentance. This conviction, this repentance is what it means to be, “crucified with Christ”.

If you think that God may be inviting you to participate in a convicting season of repentance you may wonder, “How will I live, differently? Hear this recent story from Kristen’s life. Five and a half months ago Kris broke a bone in her foot. Following three and a half months in a walking boot, followed by crutches and canes, physical therapy and evening upon evening of foot massages she still lives with pain. Her doctor told her this morning that he is encouraged her progress (No, she did not hit him). As the two of them talked she came up with the understanding that what is needed on her part is patience and, the need to discover a new way of walking. As she told me this accounting of her meeting with the doctor I thought, and so it is with “being crucified with Christ”. We go through a painful experience. We often feel constrained, inconvenienced, slowed down, misunderstood and often, frustrated. We want to get on with life when the crucifying is over (or when the walking boot is removed) but, this getting on with life at our pace is what gets people in trouble in the first place.

Be gently reminded that Jacob, after wrestling with the angel of God in a solitary silhouetted darkness walked away from his wrestling match with God with a limp (Gen. 32). After Jesus’ resurrection Jesus did not walk with a limp but he certainly had the battle scars to show Thomas that he survived crucifixion (Jn. 20.24). And finally, on three different occasions Paul asked God to remove a certain pain in his life but God said, “I will not remove the pain in your life but I will give you the grace to live with it (2 Cor,. 12.8). These three case studies teach us three important lessons about “going to your own funeral”. First, a faithful wrestling with God will result in a “different walk”. You will not want to walk with God as you did, formerly. Second, there will be times in life where one goes through great difficulty and, we will have the scars to prove it. You will live to tell about it!! Third, there are yet other things in our lives that come as the result of wrestling or warfare or whatever and with some of these things God will say, “I will give you, too, the grace to deal with it.”