Paul says there are two crucifixions that must occur on the cross in order to live a victorious Christian life – Jesus’ and your own. He writes of himself, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

To identify with Jesus Christ is to identify with the cross. In other words, on the cross Paul was crucified to all things that belong to this world. Being “crucified” with Him created a resultant disconnect from this world’s order and subsequent attachment and alignment with Him.

The word “world” in the Greek is kosmos, which simply refers to an organized world system or arrangement designed to promote a specific emphasis or philosophy. For example, we often talk about the “world of sports,” or the “world of finance,” or the “world of politics.” These phrases are not referencing a location or a place. They are referencing an organized system inclusive of certain definitions, regulations, and philosophical worldviews.

When Paul states that he has been crucified with Christ, he is saying that he is no longer alive to this world’s system that wants to leave God out, otherwise known as worldliness. He is saying that he was crucified to the strategies and rules that are set up to try and make humanity acceptable to God independently of God.

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but the world really does not mind religion. The world not only tolerates religion, but it frequently even embraces it. Religions dominate much of humanity’s systems all across the globe. What the world will not tolerate, however, is the cross of Jesus Christ. As soon as you introduce Jesus into the equation, you have become too specific. Staying with God is okay because that is generic and vague. But once you bring Jesus to bear on a life or a worldview, that is too narrow for many people.

Have you ever gone swimming in a lake or in an ocean that was very deep? If you chose to swim several hundred feet down in the depths of the water, you wouldn’t survive simply because your body is not made for that environment. Without the proper equipment, you wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. Friend, the cross is your equipment in this world. It is your GPS. It is your identity. It is your oxygen. It is your point of reference. It is your life. It is all of that.

Why is it that so many believers struggle to live victorious lives? Because they are leaving the cross at the benediction. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 NIV). He didn’t say that you are to pick up your cross and then set it back down. He said you are to carry it with you.

This is an ongoing identification, as Paul pointed out in his letter to the Corinthians where he said, “I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31, emphasis added). The cross represents the moment-by-moment connection to and identification with Jesus Christ and the purpose of His life, death, burial, and resurrection. It is acknowledgment of complete and total dependency on Christ and His sufficiency. This is where your victory lies. This is where your power is to be found. Tap into the power of the cross in the way it was intended – as an ongoing, daily source of strength, humility, grace, mercy and might.