For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh… Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Galatians 5:17, 24

I have offered parts of myself to God for crucifixion and experienced His piercing healing (see Pierce My Tongue, Defensiveness, On the Cross).  There is so much in me that needs to be put to death.  In just the past few weeks, in answer to my prayer of “crucify my flesh,” God has been revealing more of those hidden parts:  feelings of pride, jealousy, and insecurity that distance me from others, an attitude that fights for my own agenda instead of listening to others, seeing others as vehicles of opportunity, and more.  My mental picture, instead of a single nail piercing some part of me, was that I looked like a porcupine had attacked me, with a dozen long quills protruding from me!  I’ve been walking around with that image to remind me that those things have been put to death, and I am not to resurrect them.

I can say with Paul, not just as a theologically-true statement but also as an ongoing experiential reality, “I have been crucified with Christ.”

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20