Come Out All the Way – Crucified with Christ and Walking in the Spirit

An old friend I haven’t spoken with in many years, Cere, posted a powerful and sobering word on Facebook. He painted a chilling picture of the most evil being imaginable, one who deals in drugs, prostitution, trafficking, murder, wars, broken families, lies, and every form of destruction. Then he asked a piercing question:

“Knowing my reputation… would you come?”

He used that image to illustrate how the world system operates under Satan’s influence, and how too many who profess the name of Christ still live “into” that system rather than truly crucified to it.

His post stirred my heart deeply. It echoed what the Apostle Paul wrote with such clarity and finality. In Galatians 2:20 we read:

“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 does not leave us guessing about the inner battle. In Romans 7 he lays bare the exhausting war of trying to please God in our own strength. The flesh constantly pulls against the Spirit, the good we want to do remains undone, and the evil we hate is still present. It is the cry of a man who has discovered that self-effort is a dead end.

Then comes the victory declaration of Romans 8:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

The call is clear and uncompromising. The church, and every person who claims the name of Jesus, must die to the flesh daily. We must crucify its desires, its self-life, and its demand to remain in control. We must depend fully on the Holy Spirit’s power if we are ever to walk in the Spirit.

Only then is it no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. Only then can we truly “come out” from the world’s empty promises and live as new creations who take back territory for the Kingdom of God.

Coming out halfway is not coming out at all. Profession without practice leaves us still entangled. Religious activity without the daily cross still leaves the flesh in charge.

The invitation of the Spirit is not to try harder, but to die more completely so that His life can be fully expressed.

It’s time to come out all the way.

Not just in profession, but in daily practice.

Dead to self.

Alive in Him.

In solitude and silence before the Lord,